Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, the two US citizens killed in Tamaulipas had criminal records for drug possession, according to the South Carolina arrest record page. In addition, Woodard, 33, was accused of distributing cocaine near a school in 2015. The two men were kidnapped by a criminal group last Friday in Matamoros along with Latavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams, who were rescued alive on Tuesday. . It is not confirmed that these data have any relation to the crime, but they are being considered by Mexican institutions to work on a new hypothesis about the attack. In addition, the appearance of five individuals presumably linked to the Gulf Cartel, handcuffed and with a sign apologizing to society for the murder, has raised confusion about a case that has been close to becoming a serious diplomatic conflict between Mexico and the United States.
Nearly a week later, the reason for the attack on the four Americans remains unclear. At first, the Tamaulipas prosecutor, Irving Barrios, pointed out that the main line of investigation is that it was a mix-up, although he did not provide further details. Next to her, the federal Security Secretary, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, clarified that other lines should not be ruled out. A report from the Mexican authorities, to which you have had access Reuters, now launches as a new hypothesis that members of organized crime considered that another group was entering their territory: “It cannot be ruled out that the attack against the Americans could be directly related to drug trafficking operations,” the document reads. Included in that report is the background on Woodard and Brown.
Woodard was arrested twice in 2015 for marijuana possession and cocaine trafficking. His last criminal record is for a theft in December 2019. Brown, 28,’s only link to health-related crimes is an arrest in February 2015 for possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana or hashish. He was also accused in 2019 of family violence. Reuters has confirmed that Eric Williams was also convicted in 2017 of cocaine distribution. For her part, the only woman in the group, Latavia Washington McGee, 33, has been arrested since 2012 seven times in Florence County, South Carolina, for various reasons, such as disorderly conduct or driving without a license. . On two occasions she was arrested for neglecting the care of a minor. the english newspaper Daily Mail, who has obtained the criminal records of the youths, points out that Washington McGee was found guilty after her eight-year-old daughter tested positive for amphetamines and cannabis.
These logs, however, do not explain the attack. There is also no answer to how the attackers on this side of the border could have known about these petty crimes in South Carolina enough to consider the youths a threat, if that was the motive.
The friends left Lake City, South Carolina, for Matamoros to accompany Washington McGee to a supposed cosmetic operation. A 2,300 kilometer journey aboard a Chrysler Pacifica minivan. They crossed the border near Brownsville at 9:18 a.m. last Friday. The relatives lost contact with them since they crossed, due to the poor telephone signal. Once in Mexico, the group was watched for 45 minutes by up to eight different vehicles.
Around 11 in the morning, the youths are intercepted and forced to get into a white van. In the videotaped scene, it is observed how the attackers drag two unconscious bodies to the bed of that truck. The Tamaulipas Prosecutor’s Office believes that the attackers initially took the group of friends, but they tried to flee. That’s when they were shot.
The agency has indicated in a statement that they have secured an ambulance, in which the young people were taken on board, and a medical clinic where they were offered “first aid”, although it has not specified for what reason or at what time they were used. The Americans were found inside a wooden hut near Bagdad beach, in the area of La Lagunona. The agents detained a 24-year-old man, José Guadalupe N, who was supposedly in charge of the home’s security.
There they found the bodies of Woodard and Brown and Williams and McGee alive. The cause of death of the two men, whose bodies are supposedly to be delivered to the United States this Thursday, has not yet been revealed. The two survivors were already handed over to the United States on Tuesday, where Williams received medical treatment.
Among the many unanswered questions that the case still leaves is who the perpetrators of the attack were. Prosecutor Barrios only pointed out that in the area of the kidnapping, Matamoros and surroundings, the dominant criminal group is the Gulf Cartel. However, this network has progressively divided since 2003 into various divisions and could now have accommodated up to 14 cédulas, including the Escorpión group or Los Ciclones.
The Army found five alleged hitmen yesterday whom the Scorpions accuse of having killed the Americans and “apologize to Matamorense society.” A source close to the Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed to EL PAÍS that weapons were found at the place where the individuals were found, for which reason they are being assessed whether they are handed over to the Attorney General’s Office or the Attorney General’s Office, since possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the army is the responsibility of the latter.
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