Moment survivors rescued from fatal Mexican cartel kidnapping
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The harrowing moment a mother-of-five was rescued from a dingy stash house in Mexico six miles from where she and three friends were kidnapped at gunpoint has emerged.Latavia ‘Tay’ McGee is seen barefoot and covered in dirt – the trauma of the incident evident on her face.She survived the ordeal with friend Eric Williams who was shot in the left leg, according to Mexican officials.Her cousin Shaeed Woodard and friend Zindell Brown were killed.The four had traveled to Mexico so McGee could get a budget tummy tuck when they were caught in gunfire between two gangs on March 3 – officials saying they believe the incident could have been a case of mistaken identity.McGee’s mother Barbara Burgess told <a style="font-weight: bold;" class="class" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" website 15 on Tuesday evening that she had spoken to her daughter, who was in shock but unharmed. 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 Mexican officials said Mcgee’s cousin Shaeed Woodard and friend Zindell Brown were killed.
Their bodies were found in the stash house along with the two survivors 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.’ Burgess thanked well-wishers for their support.’I appreciated their prayers. I thank them for praying because that’s what I had needed. ‘Prayer, it will change things.
It works out. And brazzers prayer, you believe in it and it’ll work. It did it for me. Because I was praying for my daughter. ‘And I know she was coming home. I knew it. ‘I didn’t know when and what time.
But, I knew she was coming.’ The images of McGee emerging from captivity were taken at a stash house in the rural town of El Tecolote, six and half miles from Matamoros where the group was found.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. ‘They 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.’Officials in Mexico would not confirm whether the person detained in relation to the kidnapping is related to the criminal organization ‘Gulf Cartel,’ however they are known to operate in the region.Mexican officials said that the group arrived in Matamoros at 9:45am 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. 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 Forensic technicians were seen working at the scene where authorities found the bodies of two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen, in Matamoros 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 president vowed those responsible will be ‘punished.”Those responsible are going to be found, they are going to be punished, as was done when they murdered women and children, in Bavispe, from the LeBarón, Miller, Langford family.
All involved were arrested,’ President López Obrador said.The Tamaulipas State Attorney General’s Office said that the four American citizens were found at about 7:30 am Tuesday four days after going missing.’Unfortunately two are dead.
Investigation and intelligence work continues to capture those responsible. Details will be given later,’ he said on Tuesday morning.’Of the four, two of them are deceased, one person injured and the other is alive. ‘Ambulances and the rest of the security personnel are on their way to give corresponding support for [their] transfer and [any] medical support that can be [given],’ he added at the time. McGee had traveled down to Mexico for a tummy tuck procedure before she was kidnapped at gunpoint by a drug cartel on Friday McGee was joined by her cousin, Shaeed Woodard, (left) and friends Eric Williams (right) and Zindell Brown 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 McGee was uninjured but Williams had been shot in the left leg – the injury was non-life-threateningMexican newspaper <a style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank" class="class" rel="nofollow" website cites law enforcement officials said they 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.The four had traveled from Lake City, South Carolina to the border town of Matamoros for McGee to undergo the discounted tummy tuck, one family member of the victims said.Video from the kidnapping incident show the group being thrown into the back of a van.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. ‘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.’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. McGee is seen sitting on the ground after the vehicle she and three other U.S.
citizens were traveling on was shot at by kidnappers moments after they drove into the Mexican border city of Matamoros A gunman acted as a lookout for his cohorts moments after they attacked a mini van with four American occupants and kidnapped them in the northeastern Mexican border city of Matamoros on Friday Pictures from the moment of their capture have started to circulate online showing the group at the back of a vehicle 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. Zalandria Brown of Florence, South Carolina, said on Monday she had been in contact with the FBI and local officials after learning that her younger brother, Zindell, was one of the four victims. ‘This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from,’ she said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. La Kena or Ciclon 19, the leader of the Gulf Cartel ‘To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable.’Zalandria said her brother, lives in Myrtle Beach, and two friends had accompanied McGee and that the group was extremely close – making the trip in part to help split up the driving duties.They were aware of the dangers in Mexico, Zalandria noted her brother – who did not survive – had even expressed some misgivings before the trip.’Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,’ Brown said.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 <a style="font-weight: bold;" class="class" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" website 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.
