A Mexican cartel has turned over five of its members who allegedly kidnapped four Americans – including two who were murdered– and also shot dead an innocent bystander in the northern border city of Matamoros last Friday.
The five purported members of the Gulf Cartel’s Scorpions Group armed wing were found by security forces tied up and dumped next to an SUV on a Matamoros street.
The group of Americans was allegedly in Mexico to accompany South Carolina resident Latavia McGee to get a discounted tummy tuck. More than a million Americans each year seek cheaper cosmetic surgery south of the border.
The criminal organization apologized to the families of the victims for the broad daylight assault that shook the border town across from Brownsville, Texas.
Pictures that surfaced on social media showed the suspects lying face down over the pavement and sitting against an SUV.
Members (pictured) of the Gulf Cartel’s Scorpions Group were abandoned on a Matamoros street and accused by the criminal organization of being behind last Friday’s kidnapping of four Americans, including two who were killed. A Mexican woman was also shot dead during the incident
The Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo, CDG) also left behind a note and ‘condemned’ the kidnappings and murders
The Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo, CDG) also left behind a note on a white poster where it expressed its deep regrets.
‘The Gulf Cartel’s Scorpions Group strongly condemns the events of last Friday, March 3 where unfortunately an ‘innocent’ working mother died and 4 American citizens were ‘kidnapped’ of which 2 died,’ the Spanish-written message read.
The criminal organization, which has been around since the 1930s, claimed that the suspects acted on their own.
‘And for this reason, we have decided to hand over those involved and directly responsible for the facts who at all times acted under their own determination and indiscipline and against the rules that ‘The CDG’ has always operated, respecting the life and integrity of the innocent,’ the cartel said. ‘The CDG apologizes to Matamoran society, the relatives of Mrs. Arely, the American individuals and families affected. The CDG asks society to be calm because we are committed to not repeating those errors caused by indiscipline and whoever is responsible will pay!!’
A spokesperson for the Tamaulipas State Attorney General’s Office told DailyMail.com on Thursday that the five alleged participants have yet to be brought up on charges.
The prosecutor’s office announced that law enforcement investigators assigned to the kidnapping located and confiscated an ambulance that the cartel used to drive the American victims to a local clinic for treatment following the attack.
South Carolina residents Latavia McGee, her cousin Shaheed Woodward and her friends Zindell Brown and Eric James crossed into Matamoros around 9am last Friday and came under attack at about two hours later, according to the Mexican government.
The Gulf Cartel said they the five individuals “acted under their own determination and indiscipline and against the rules that “The CDG” has always operated, respecting the life and integrity of the innocent”
Gulf Cartel henchmen were seen on video forcing McGee into the flatbed of a pickup truck and dumping the bodies Woodward, Brown and James in the vehicle.
The three men were accompanying McGee on the road trip from South Carolina across the border for McGee’s tummy tuck surgery.
Mexican national and Matamoros resident Arely Servando, 33, was struck by a stray bullet and killed on the scene.
Latavia McGee and Eric James were rescued by security forces Tuesday morning
Shaheed Woodard and Zindell Brown, two of the Americans kidnapped in Mexico, were found dead Tuesday
Arely Servando was trapped in the middle of a Gulf Cartel attack on a vehicle with four Americans and was struck by a stray bullet and died in the Mexican border city of Matamoros last Friday
McGee, a mother-of-five, and James, who was shot in the leg, were rescued from a cartel stash house six and a half miles away in the rural town of El Tecolote on Tuesday morning. Brown and Woodward were found dead in the house.
Mexican law enforcement agents have also ben investigating the possibility that members of a drug cartel kidnapped four Americans last Friday thinking that they were encroaching on their turf, according to an internal government document seen by Reuters.
Latavia ‘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 Shaheed Woodard and friend Zindell Brown were killed. Their bodies were found in the stash house along with the two survivors
Officials, who say they are pursuing various lines of inquiry, drew up a brief document summarizing the abduction of the Americans and biographical information on them. The metadata of the digital document suggested it was created on Wednesday.
It included their names, birthdays and addresses, and details of criminal records. Among them were convictions for drug-related offenses against Brown and Woodard.
In view of the prior convictions, ‘it cannot be ruled out that the attack against (the Americans) could be directly linked to drug trafficking operations,’ which their assailants believed the Americans could be carrying out, the document said.
