By ALFREDO PEÑA, FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and TRAVIS LOLLER (Associated Press)
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — A highway journey to Mexico for beauty surgical procedure ended with two Americans lifeless — and two others discovered alive in a rural space close to the Gulf coast — after a violent shootout and abduction that was captured on video, officers mentioned Tuesday.
The surviving Americans had been again on U.S. soil after being sped to the border close to Brownsville, the southernmost tip of Texas, in a convoy of ambulances and SUVs escorted by Mexican army Humvees and National Guard vehicles with mounted machine weapons.
A relative of one of many victims mentioned Monday that the 4 had traveled collectively from the Carolinas so one in every of them might get a tummy tuck surgical procedure from a health care provider within the Mexican border metropolis of Matamoros, the place Friday’s abduction befell.
Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal mentioned the 4 had been present in a picket shack, the place they had been being guarded by a person who was arrested. Villarreal mentioned the captive Americans had been moved round by their captors, and at one level had been taken to a medical clinic “to create confusion and avoid efforts to rescue them.”
The two lifeless will probably be turned over to U.S. authorities following forensic work on the Matamoros morgue within the coming hours, the governor mentioned.
Villareal mentioned the wounded American, Eric Williams, had been shot within the left leg and the wound was not life threatening. The survivors had been taken to Valley Regional Medical Center with an FBI escort, the Brownsville Herald reported. A spokesperson for the hospital referred all inquiries to the FBI.
“It’s quite a relief,” mentioned Robert Williams, Eric’s brother, reached by telephone in North Carolina. “I look forward to seeing him again and actually being able to talk to him.”
The U.S. residents had been present in a shack in rural space east of Matamoros referred to as Ejido Tecolote on the way in which to the Gulf coast often called “Bagdad Beach,” in accordance with Tamaulipas state chief prosecutor Irving Barrios.
Shortly after getting into Mexico Friday, the 4 had been caught amid combating between rival cartel teams within the metropolis. Barrios mentioned the speculation is “that it was confusion, not a direct attack.”
Video and pictures taken throughout and instantly after the kidnapping present the Americans’ white minivan sitting beside one other automobile, with a minimum of one bullet gap within the driver’s facet window. A witness mentioned the 2 automobiles had collided. Almost instantly, a number of males in tactical vests and toting assault rifles arrived in one other automobile to encompass the scene.
The gunmen walked one of many Americans into the mattress of a white pickup, then dragged and loaded the three others. Terrified civilian motorists sat silently of their automobiles, hoping not to attract their consideration. Two of the victims seemed to be immobile.
Officials mentioned a Mexican girl a block and a half away from the scene additionally died in Friday’s crossfire.
The shootings illustrate the fear that has prevailed for years in Matamoros, a metropolis dominated by factions of the highly effective Gulf drug cartel who usually struggle amongst themselves. Amid the violence, hundreds of Mexicans have disappeared in Tamaulipas state alone.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mentioned the individuals accountable can be punished. He referenced arrests made within the 2019 killings of 9 U.S.-Mexican twin residents in Sonora close to the U.S. border.
He complained in regards to the U.S. media’s protection of the lacking Americans, accusing them of sensationalism. “It’s not like that when they kill Mexicans in the United States, they (the media) go quiet like mummies.”
“It’s very unfortunate, they (the U.S. government) have the right to protest like they have,” López Obrador mentioned. “We really regret that this happens in our country.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, mentioned “The cartels are responsible for the deaths of Americans.” “The DEA and the FBI are doing everything possible to dismantle and disrupt and ultimately prosecute the leaders of the cartels and the entire networks that they depend on.”
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby mentioned the U.S. is working with Mexican officers to be taught extra in regards to the circumstances surrounding the killings.
The FBI had supplied a $50,000 reward for the victims’ return and the arrest of the abductors.
Robert Williams mentioned in a phone interview that he and his brother, 38-year-old Eric Williams, are from South Carolina however now stay within the Winston-Salem space of North Carolina.
Williams described his brother as “easygoing” and “fun-spirited.”
He didn’t know his brother was touring to Mexico till after the kidnapping hit the information. But from taking a look at his brother’s Facebook posts, he thinks his brother didn’t think about the journey harmful.
“He thought it would be fun,” Williams mentioned. He hadn’t heard something about his brother’s whereabouts, he mentioned.
Told that his brother was among the many survivors Tuesday, Robert Williams mentioned that after they meet, “I’ll just tell him how happy I am to see him, and how glad I am that he made it through, and that I love him.”
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Loller reported from Nashville. AP writers Lindsay Whitehurst, Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”