Mexican Drug Cartel In Matamoros Mistakenly Targeted 4 Black Americans For Haitian Drug Smugglers, Two Dead, Two Found Alive

Four Black U.S. Citizens who were shot at and then kidnapped were mistakenly targeted as Haitian drug smugglers, according to Mexican federal authorities.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 7, 2023

Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico - On Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that all four Black U.S. Citizens who were kidnapped in Matamoros on Friday have been found by federal and state Mexican authorities, according to Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal who called to confirmed the information to President Obrador during a press conference. Two male Americans were found dead in a field and two were found alive, one female and a male were located in a nearby hut where the bodies were discovered in the town of Tecolote, just 15 miles from Matamoros. The four kidnapped Americans (U.S. Citizens) 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, 2023. 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. 

A unidentified woman from Mexico was reported killed in the cross fire, according to Mexican authorities.

The surviving woman, McGee was unharmed and Williams, who was critically wounded in a leg were transported back to the U.S. border by a Mexican military convoy shortly after being found alive.

Williams is being treated at a Brownsville hospital.

The bodies of Woodard and Brown will remain in Mexico until their autopsies are completed by Mexican medical examiners.

Mexican authorities believe that the four Black Americans were mistakenly believed to be drug Haitian drug smugglers by members of the Escorpión (Scorpion) armed faction group affiliated with the Gulf Drug Cartel (GDC).

24-year-old Jóse N, a suspected GDC-Escorpión member was taken into custody by Mexican authorities. The FBI had offered a $50,000 dollar reward for any information leading to the location of the kidnapped Black Americans and identity of the suspects involved in the kidnapping.

The U.S. State Department has issued a "Level 4: Do Not Travel" advisory for U.S. Citizens planning to travel to the State of Tamaulipas in Mexico, citing crime and kidnapping.