Two Americans who survived being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/4-u-s-citizens-kidnapped-by-gunmen-in-mexico-fbi-offers-reward-for-return" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kidnapped</a> last month by a Mexican drug cartel — in an attack that killed two other U.S. citizens — told the story of their traumatic trip over the southern border.
LaTavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/us/kidnapped-americans-mexico-interview/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNN host Anderson Cooper on Tuesday that they were driving to a medical appointment in Matamoros, Mexico, with their friends Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown when they heard a car horn behind them. Brown looked back to see what was going on and saw a gun. He told the driver not to stop the car, but then gunfire erupted. 
“Zindell and Shaeed, they jumped up to run and they were gunned down,” Williams said. Williams was then shot in both legs when he tried to escape the vehicle after one of the gunmen beat on the window. 
The two survivors said that Woodard and Brown were still alive when the cartel threw their limp bodies in the bed of a pickup truck before speeding away. The Americans were taken to a location where they were interrogated, but Woodard didn’t make it. 
“That’s where Shaeed said, ‘I love y’all, and I’m gone.’ And he died right there,” Williams said.
Williams, who was shot in both legs, told Cooper that the cartel took him to receive medical treatment, but they didn’t give him any pain medication or check to see if the bullet was still lodged in his body. “They put my leg on a two-by-four and they stitched it up,” he said.  
McGee was meanwhile placed in a room with Brown, who was slowly dying from his wounds. The cartel said they would take Brown to the hospital, but they didn’t come back to get him until an hour later, according to McGee. 
“He was fighting for his life and they didn’t do nothing,” McGee said. “I talked to him the whole time. … I just told him sorry because I asked him to come with me.” McGee said that Brown told her “It’s okay. I’m your brother. I’m supposed to be there for you. I love you.”
The survivors said that the cartel, believed to be the Gulf Cartel, was apologetic after learning they had kidnapped and killed Americans. U.S. officials believe the cartel mistook the Americans for Haitian drug dealers when they attacked them. 
McGee said that one of the cartel members told her and Williams, “There’s nothing that we can do to bring your two brothers back. But we’re sorry. Somebody made the wrong call. They was high and drunk.” 
The cartel turned five of its members over to authorities and wrote an apology letter to the “affected American people and families” as well as to the relatives of a Mexican woman who was killed by a stray bullet during the attack.
After the cartel’s apology, the kidnapped Americans said they were placed back in a truck and driven around all night, worrying that they would never be rescued. 
“They had police scanners and all types of stuff in their trucks. They knew what was going on. They were always a step ahead. So I was like, they’re never gonna find us like this,” McGee said.
After four days in captivity, Williams and McGee were finally dropped off at a wooden shack where they would eventually be rescued and brought back to the U.S., along with the bodies of their friends. 
“[Our friends] didn’t deserve that. None of us deserved it,” McGee said. “But we’re alive – we have a lot of recovering to do.” 

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‘Somebody Made The Wrong Call’: Americans Who Survived Mexican Drug Cartel Kidnapping Share Details Of Traumatic Days In Captivity

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‘Somebody Made The Wrong Call’: Americans Who Survived Mexican Drug Cartel Kidnapping Share Details Of Traumatic Days In Captivity