Source: General / Radio One
More harrowing details are being reported about the fatal kidnapping that occurred in Matamoros, Mexico last week.
On March 7, Mexican authorities found all four kidnapped Americans in a wooden shack in Ejido Tecolote, a rural area just outside the Mexican city. Latavia Washington McGee, 33, and Eric Williams survived the chilling ordeal. But their friends Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were found dead when authorities arrived at the scene.
Washington McGee was found uninjured and taken to a hospital in Texas for further medical treatment. The mother of six is still processing the tragic incident. During an interview with CNN, McGee’s mother Barbara Burgess said that she “watched ” her friends die during the horrific kidnapping.
“They were driving through and a van came up and hit them, and that’s when they started shooting at the car, shooting inside the van.” Burgess told the outlet of her daughter’s scary experience. “She said the others tried to run and they got shot at the same time.”
Eric Williams is also traumatized by the incident
Survivor Eric Williams was shot three times in his legs, his wife Michele Williams confirmed to the outlet. Williams was also taken to a hospital in Texas for surgery, His cousin, Jerry Wallace, gave an update to the New York Post about the status of his health.
“He’s talking strong and everything. He [is] doing better than what he was,” Wallace shared of Williams’s current health status. “He’s just upset about his friends getting killed right in front of him — which anybody else would be with the stuff he went through.”
According to Wallace, Williams’ chilling trip to Mexico was the first time he traveled outside of the United States. He joined McGee for the trip because “he’s a tight friend. If you’re a friend, he’s a friend.”
Williams, McGee, Woodard and Brown all grew up together, according to Wallace.
Zindell Brown had reservations about traveling to Mexico
The group of close-knit friends traveled down to Matamoros from South Carolina March 3 to accompany McGee for her tummy tuck procedure. But their trip turned deadly when they approached the Mexican border.
Several armed gunmen fired at their vehicle, causing other cars on the freeway to pile up. Startling footage captured the assailants pulling and dragging all four victims out of their vehicle into a white pickup truck.
Officials believe the group may have been targeted by a Mexican cartel that likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers.
Brown’s sister previously told the Associated Press, that her brother had hesitations about traveling down to Mexico.
“Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,’” Zalandria Brown told the news outlet.
Autopsies for Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were completed March 8, but authorities have not released their cause of death. Their remains will most likely be transported to a funeral home in Brownsville, Texas, a U.S. official said.
One person, identified as 24-year-old Jose “N,” has been detained in connection to the incident, but officials did not confirm whether he was connected to the Mexican cartel.
A level four “Do Not Travel” advisory has been issued for the area.
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