Five alleged members of the CDG-Escorpión were handed over to the Mexican federal authorities on Thursday in Matamoros.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
March 9, 2023
Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico - On Thursday, Mexican authorities arrested 5 alleged members of the Scorpion armed faction of the Gulf Drug Cartel (CDG-Escorpión) involved in the March 3, 2023 shooting and kidnapping of 4 Black U.S. Citizens in Matamoros. The Mexican authorities found 2 Americans alive in a hut and 2 deceased victims in a field in the Town of Tecolote, just 15 miles from Matamoros.
The 4 kidnapped Americans were identified as Latavia "Tay" Washingtion McGee, 33, of Myrtle Beach, her cousin Shaeed Woodard, 33, of Lake City, Zindell Brown, 28, of Myrtle Beach and Eric James Williams, 38, of Lake City, all from South Carolina who crossed into Mexico from the Brownsville, Texas U.S. border on Friday, March 3. They were headed to Matamoros for McGee to get a cosmetic surgery (tummy tuck) and to buy medicines. Shortly after crossing into Matamoros, they got lost and they were ambused by a faction group affiliated with the Mexican Gulf Drug Cartel. Their White mini van with North Carolina plates came under gunfire, which Williams, Brown and Woodard were critically wounded on Friday and then the gunmen dragged their bodies into the back of a White pickup truck at gun point.
The 4 Black Americans were mistakenly targeted as Haitian drug smugglers, according to Mexican federal authorities.
McGee and Williams were found alive, and Woodard and Brown were found deceased. A 33-year-old Mexican woman was also killed in the cross fire during the kidnapping in Matamoros.
The 33-year-old Mexican female killed in the cross fire on March 3 in Matamoros was identified as Arely Pablo Servando, who had just gotten off a bus. Servando was the principal at the Association of Young Embassaors of Pentecostal Power (AJEPP-Asociación de Jóvenes Embajadores Del Poder Pentecostes) where she also taught bible study to children.
Mexican authorities say that the kidnappers on Friday took the wounded Americans by ambulance to the Spanish Medical Center (Centro Médico Español) clinic located at Calle Sendero Nacional and Calle Avenida Constituyentes in Matamoros to treat their injuries. The medical staff was forced to treat the injured Americans at gun point. Two of the Americans, Woodard and Brown died at the clinic.
According to the CDG-Escorpión note found in the windshield of a vehicle where the 5 suspects were tied up said, that the CDG-Escorpión was sorry about the incident on March 3, and that 5 members of the group acted on their own accord and didn't follow the drug cartel's rules, so they were being handed over to authorities for prosecution.
24-year-old Jóse Guadalupe N., also an alleged member of the CDG-Escorpión was arrested on Tuesday by Mexican authorities where the Americans were found. Jóse was left to guard McGee and Williams.
Jóse Guadalupe told Mexican authorities that his Cartel boss Jóse Alberto García Vilano, aka, "La Kena o Ciclon 19" ordered the attack of the 4 Americans.
Mexican authorities haven't confirmed, if in fact, the 5 alleged members of the CDG-Escorpión that were surrendered by their own drug cartel group were connected to the kidnappings and deaths of the two Black Americans.
Univision dot com reported that, "It was learned that the four Americans who were kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico, on March 3 have criminal records. Shaeed Woodard was convicted five times for drug offences, Eric Williams was convicted for manufacturing and distribution of cocaine, and Zindell Brown for possession of small amounts of marijuana. On the other hand, Latavia McGee was denounced by her daughter after testing positive for methamphetamine and slapping her in public."
Williams' wife told a local news reporter in Lake City that she didn't know that he was going into Mexico and during recent conversations on the phone after he was found alive, he told her not to visit him at the Brownsville hospital.
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