Authorities found the four Americans who were allegedly mistakenly kidnapped by a Mexican cartel. However, two were reported to have died, while the surviving two will be returned to the US.
The situation was a road trip to Mexico for cosmetic surgery that later became a tragic incident in a rural area near the Gulf coast. Armed individuals took the four Americans after a violent shootout captured on video.
Kidnapped Americans Found
The two surviving Americans were returned to US soil after being transported to the border near Brownsville, the southernmost tip of Texas. They were brought in a convoy of ambulances and SUVs escorted by Mexican military Humvees and National Guard trucks equipped with machine guns.
On Monday, a relative of one of the victims said that the four individuals traveled together from the Carolinas seeking for one of them to get a tummy tuck surgery. They were looking for a doctor in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, where their abduction occurred on Friday, as per Yahoo News.
In a statement, Tamaulipas Gov. Americo Villarreal said that the four victims were discovered inside a wooden shack with a man guarding them, who was later arrested by authorities. The official said that the captives were moved around by their kidnappers and, at one point, were taken inside a medical clinic to "create confusion and avoid efforts to rescue them."
The governor said the two fatalities would be turned over to American authorities following forensic investigations at the Matamoros morgue. Villarreal added that one wounded American, identified as Eric Williams, was shot in the left leg and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Officials took the two survivors to Valley Regional Medical Center escorted by the FBI. A spokesperson for the hospital referred all inquiries and questions to the intelligence and security service agency. The other survivor that authorities rescued was identified as Latavia "Tay" McGee.
The US Embassy in Mexico City said unidentified gunmen shot the passengers shortly after the four victims' vehicles crossed into Mexico. It added that the armed men then placed the Americans into another vehicle and fled the scene, according to ABC News.
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Tragic Incident
During a news conference, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios said armed men did not directly target Americans. He added that the victims seemed to have been taken away due to a "misunderstanding.
Mexican investigators said that the kidnappers may have mistakenly taken the Americans, believing they were rival human traffickers. Authorities also discovered the deceased victims, one inside and one outside of the wooden shack where the two survivors were found.
McGee's mother, Barbar Burgess, said she had to "hold my heart" when FBI officials arrived at her home on Tuesday bearing news that her daughter was still alive. The survivor spoke to her mother from inside a Texas hospital on Tuesday, telling her she suffered no major injuries.
The tragic fates of the victims underscore the reality that hundreds of thousands of Americans travel abroad every year for medical care, the destination of many of which is Mexico. These include anything from root canals to in vitro fertilization to cosmetic procedures, which are often a lot less expensive south of the border, said CNN.
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