The Gulf Cartel kidnapped and murdered American citizens in Matamoros, Mexico on March 3, 2023. Latavia Washington, 32, Zindell Brown, 28, Shaeed Woodard, 33, and Eric Wise/Williams, 38, were all kidnapped at gunpoint by The Gulf cartel and taken to a stash house. Zindell and Shaeed were murdered by the cartel. Latavia and Eric were rescued and made it back to the USA.
The 4 Americans were from South Carolina. Latavia was getting bodily cosmetic work done in Mexico, so she asked her friends Zindell, Shaeed, and Eric to come with here. They rented a white van and drove all the way to Mexico.
Once the 4 made it to Mexico, The Gulf cartel members mistakenly thought that the victims were drug traffickers taking drug business from them.
So, the cartel initiated an ambush. The cartel intentionally drove a vehicle into the victim’s white van. The collision caused the locks on the van to automatically unlock.
Knowing that a collision causes unlocked doors in vehicles, the cartel moved in, opened up the van doors and began shooting with machine guns. Eric was shot in the leg, Zindell was shot, and Shaeed was shot.
See video of the shooting below.
The cartel then pushed Latavia into the back of a truck. They also dragged Eric, Shaeed, and Zindell into the back of the truck.
Zindell and Shaeed were killed in the shooting. Another woman of Mexican descent was shot dead in the shooting. The Mexican woman was an innocent bystander. The cartel members then drove off with the victims.
President of the USA Joe Biden was briefed on the incident. A special FBI operations team along with Mexican authorities attempted a search in Mexico to find the victims.
The search was difficult because the cartel members kept moving the victims to different locations to avoid detection.
The FBI finally found Latavia and Eric in a stash house in Matamoros, Mexico on March 7, 2023. Sadly, Shaeed and Zindell were dead from the shooting, but their bodies were not found by the FBI.
Latavia and Eric were driven back to the United States with an emergency police escort. Once back in the USA, Latavia and Eric were taken to a hospital in Texas for treatment. Their families from South Carolina flew to Texas to reunite with them.
