The mother of a woman who was brutally kidnapped by the ‘Gulf Cartel’ while traveling to Mexico for a budget tummy tuck said that her daughter watched her friend and cousin murdered.
Latavia ‘Tay’ McGee, Eric Williams, Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard were abducted when they got caught in crossfire between two gangs in the Mexico border city, Matamoros, on Friday.
McGee and Williams survived the harrowing ordeal, Brown and Woodard were both killed – all four were found in a dingy stash house six miles from where they’d been taken.
McGee’s mother, Barbara Burgess spoke to CNN and said that she was horrified to see her daughter kidnapped and wants justice.
The mother of a woman who was brutally kidnapped while traveling to Mexico for a budget tummy tuck said her daughter watched her friend and cousin murdered
Lativa ‘Tay’ McGee was found uninjured after she, her cousin and two friends were kidnapped. The mother-of-five was seen without shoes after surviving the tragic incident along with friend Eric Williams who was shot in the left leg
‘She was doing ok I talked to her last night,’ Burgess explained after speaking to her daughter for the first time since the abduction.
‘They were driving through and a van came up and hit them. That van just started shooting at the car, shooting inside the van or whatever.
‘[Latavia] said the others started running and they got shot at the same time – Shaheed and Zindell – they all got shot at the same time and she watched them die.’
Burgess said watching her daughter ‘thrown into the truck like trash’ in video footage which emerged from the ordeal was heartbreaking.
‘When I saw them throw my daughter up on that truck – they like – threw them up like trash on that truck and I didn’t like it and I wanted to get to her,’ she said.
When rescued – McGee was seen barefoot and covered in dirt – the trauma of the incident evident on her face.
She survived the ordeal with Williams who was shot in the left leg, according to Mexican officials, the others did not survive.
Burgess said that she was like a mother to Woodard and ‘would do anything for him.’
‘His mother had passed away when he was like 15 and I’ve had him ever since,’ she said to the broadcaster.
‘Latavia was in the house too, so she saw him as a brother, but he’s her cousin and my son. I miss him, I love him and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.’
McGee’s daughter said few words to the broadcaster and was equally shocked by the kidnapping.
‘I was just thinking why did they get kidnapped,’ she said.
The four had traveled to Mexico so McGee could undergo the cosmetic medical procedure when they were caught in crossfire between two gangs on March 3.
Mexican officials said they believe the incident could have been a case of ‘mistaken identity’ and could be connected to the notorious ‘Gulf Cartel’ who are prominent in the region.
McGee (pictured) was seen in the back of an ambulance before being transported to Texas after the brutal kidnapping that officials believe was a case of ‘mistaken identity’
McGee was seen wiping her eyes with a tissue as Williams – who was shot in the left leg, but also survived the ordeal – was treated in the back of the emergency vehicle
‘She’s alive. I talked to her. The nurse at the hospital called and let me talk to her,’ said Burgess.
‘She was crying. I asked her how she was doing. She doing okay.
‘She was crying because her brother got killed and she watched him die. She watched two of them die. They died in front of her.’
Family members of Brown revealed that he had been reluctant to travel south of the border.
‘Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,’ Brown’s sister Zalandria said in a phone interview with AP.
Zalandria, who lives in Florence, SC, said his death has been ‘like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from.’
‘To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable,’ she added.
At least one person has been arrested in connection with the incident and the surviving Americans were taken to the border near Brownsville, Texas, in a convoy of Mexican ambulances and SUVs on Tuesday.
They were then delivered to U.S. consulate officials.
In a press conference on Tuesday afternoon the Governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal Anaya, who broke news of the two surviving Americans at a separate press conference in the morning, confirmed the identity of the person arrested.
’24-year-old Jose ‘N’ was arrested. He was in charge of monitoring the victims,’ he said, noting the victims ‘were found in a house near a place known as La Lagunona in the town of El Tecolote in Matamoros.
‘During the three days after the criminal act, the four people were transferred to various places, including a clinic in order to create confusion and avoid rescue work,’ he said.
24-year-old Jose ‘N’ was arrested in connection with the incident Mexican officials say he was in charge of monitoring the victims
The group were found in a stash house (pictured) in the rural town of El Tecolote, six and half miles from Matamoros
Officials in Mexico would not confirm whether the person detained in relation to the kidnapping is related to the criminal organization ‘Gulf Cartel,’ which is known to operate in the region.
Mexican officials said that the group arrived in Matamoros at 9:18am and were caught up in the terrifying ambush, hours after arriving in town, at 11:45am.
Tamaulipas State Attorney General Irving Barrios said that information related to the kidnapping surfaced online and that videos and pictures shared by people helped in the rescue.
At the time authorities didn’t know that the victims were Americans, he added.
Once officials had identified U.S. license plates on the minivan the group had been traveling in, Mexican authorities reached out to their U.S. counterparts.
Mexican authorities said they were able to scan public surveillance cameras in the area to determine ‘the number of cartel vehicles that were involved in the attack.’
He said that they scanned medical facilities in Matamoros in hopes of finding the kidnapping victims earlier but to no avail.
Defense Secretary General Louis Sandoval was asked about kidnappings on both sides of the border, especially in the U.S. where victims are then taken into Mexico to seek ransom.
‘Tamaulipas has been a state where violence, the presence of groups has been important,’ he said.
Forensic technicians were seen working at the scene where authorities found the bodies of two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen
Military personnel kept watch at the scene where authorities found the bodies
‘It should be noted during the current administration a security strategy was established and very specific objectives were set for Tamaulipas, for the border, to take care of the border.
‘The security strategy that was implemented has given very good results, I don’t have the stats here right now, but the number of intentional homicides has dropped in Tamaulipas thanks to this strategy.
‘The participation of the army, the strategy of the air force has been important.’
Governor Américo Villarreal said that there has been close attention on the incident and medical support was provided to surviving victims while the Mexican president vowed those responsible will be ‘punished.’
‘Those responsible are going to be found, they are going to be punished,’ President López Obrador said.
The Tamaulipas State Attorney General’s Office said that the four American citizens were found at about 7:30am Tuesday, four days after going missing.
In the lead up to the rescue, Mexican newspaper Milenio cites law enforcement officials were investigating whether the group was kidnapped by members of the ‘Gulf Cartel,’ a notoriously violent gang run by a feared leader known as La Kena.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said the US authorities should treat the gangs the same way they do ISIS when negotiating for Americans’ release.
‘They are terrorists,’ he said during an appearance on Fox News last night.
‘The Mexican government is being held hostage by tens of thousands of paramilitary members of terrorist organizations that effectively control Mexico.’
And as spring breakers pack their bikinis and sunglasses to hit the beach in Mexico, the US government has urged citizens to avoid cartel hotspots amid a spike in violence.
‘It’s pretty close at this stage to a failed narco-state,’ he said.
FBI units escort two Brownsville Fire Department EMS Ambulances through Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates with the two surviving U.S. citizens who were kidnapped on March 3
Pictures from the moment of their capture have started to circulate online showing the group at the back of a vehicle
‘They can use violence and oceans of cash to corrupt the government. The government has no will, and it doesn’t have the ability to deal with the cartels.’
Republican representatives Dan Crenshaw, of Texas, and Michael Waltz, of Florida, recently introduced a bill that would give Biden ‘authority to use the U.S. military against these cartels in Mexico.’
La Kena or Ciclon 19, the leader of the Gulf Cartel
In response, Ricardo Monreal tweeted the following yesterday: ‘My response to the representative from Texas @DanCrenshawTX is direct and clear: I reject all foreign interference in the internal affairs of Mexico, and also the claim to apply United States laws in our country. It’s called ‘Sovereignty.’ Even if Crenshaw doesn’t get it.’
Le Kena leads the Gulf Cartel and is also known as Ciclon 19. His real name is Alberto García Vilano.
Mexican authorities have been hunting him for months and are offering a reward of 2.5million pesos for any information that could lead to his arrest.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday during a news briefing that the Biden administration had been ‘closely following the assault and kidnapping of four U.S. citizens.’
‘These sorts of attacks are unacceptable,’ she said, adding that U.S. law enforcement was in touch with Mexican authorities, as were the departments of State and Homeland Security.
The Governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal Anaya, confirmed the condition of four kidnapped Americans over a phone call during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s press conference on Tuesday. Two are dead, two alive – one wounded
Mexican authorities are seen here investigating the white SUV McGee and her friends drove to the country in
A map highlighting the six of 32 Mexican states that the US State Department currently has listed under its most severe ‘do not travel’ category, due to local cartels that may rob and/or kidnap American tourists
The FBI and Mexican law enforcement are investigating, with the bureau asking the public for information leading to arrests.
The State Department has a ‘Do Not Travel’ warning in place for Tamaulipas state due to ‘crime and kidnapping.’
It said organized crime activity, including gun battles, armed robberies and kidnappings, are common along the border and in Ciudad Victoria.
‘Criminal groups target public and private passenger buses, as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers and demanding ransom payments,’ the warning states.