The four U.S. citizens kidnapped in Mexico last week were revealed to be a South Carolina mother of six and her three friends, according to the woman's mother, and they were traveling south of the border so that the woman could undergo a medical procedure.
The mother, Latavia Washington McGee, 33, drove to Mexico with Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown, and Eric James Williams, but they never made it to McGee's doctor’s appointment on Friday, her mother Barbara Burgess told CNN. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday the four U.S. citizens were going to buy medicine and that “there was a confrontation between groups, and they were detained."
FBI SEARCHING FOR FOUR US CITIZENS KIDNAPPED AFTER CROSSING BORDER INTO MEXICO
The four Americans were traveling in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates on Friday when they crossed the border into the city of Matamoros, Mexico, which is located in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas and home to warring factions of the Gulf drug cartel. The Mexican city is just south of Brownsville, Texas.
"Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen shot the passengers of the vehicle," a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City read. "The gunmen herded the four U.S. citizens into another vehicle and fled the scene with them."
An “innocent” Mexican citizen died in the attack, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said, per USA Today.
Burgess told ABC News she warned her daughter not to go to Mexico for the cosmetic procedure. "Ma, I'll be okay," Burgess said McGee replied on Wednesday before departing. Burgess told her daughter to call when she was 15 minutes away from the doctor's office. But she never heard from her, and when she called her daughter, she said it went right to voicemail.
Investigators believe the Americans were mistakenly targeted by a Mexican cartel that likely thought they were Haitian drug smugglers, a U.S. official familiar with the investigation told CNN, adding that the U.S. citizens have no concerning criminal histories. Burgess told the news outlet that her daughter had traveled south of the border once before for a different medical procedure.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that President Joe Biden is "aware and has been informed" of the missing U.S. citizens.
The State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Mexican authorities are working together on the case, according to the White House.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of those involved.