How a cartel's mistake could explain the Mexico kidnappings

Four Americans were kidnapped shortly after crossing into the Mexican border city of Matamoros last Friday (3 March).

The US citizens had been driving across the border from Texas to undergo a medical procedure when gunmen opened fire and the four of them were loaded by armed men into a pickup truck.

Two of the four Americans are now being treated in hospital, while the other two have tragically died with new information leading officials to believe the Gulf drug cartel were involved in the incident.

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The group of friends - Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown, Latavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams - have been named as those involved in the kidnapping.

They were all on their way to Matamoros for McGee to undergo a tummy tuck procedure when open fire broke loose in broad daylight with video footage capturing the whole incident.

McGee and Williams survived the ordeal, but the FBI has since confirmed the other two American citizens have died - who were later named as Woodard and Brown.

The two survivors are now safely back on US soil where they are receiving medical treatment after being were rescued from a drug cartel 'stash house' on Tuesday (7 March) while the bodies of their two friends are in the process of being repatriated.

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According to the Independent, one of the victims, Brown, raised his concern about venturing into the cartel-dominated area ahead of his trip.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Brown's sister Zalandria Brown revealed: "Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down.'"

She added: "To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable."

Matamoros is situated between the two separate factions of the Gulf Cartel which battle for territory over the drug trading routes into the United States.

A few specific suggestions have since been raised to explain the horrific attack.

One is that a local drug gang operating in the area had mistaken the four American for 'US-based rivals, Haitian drug gang members or people smugglers', the BBC reports.

Mexican government officials have stated that there were many 'diverse' lines of investigation into the matter and that no particular suggestion will be ruled out at this current point in time.

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The Tamaulipas attorney general's office has, however, confirmed that the theory of the attack being due to a case of mistaken identity was 'strengthening'.

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said: "We are very sorry that this happened in our country and we send our condolences to the families of the victims, friends, and the United States government, and we will continue doing our work to guarantee peace and tranquillity."

Alongside the two American citizens who lost their lives in the tragic attack, another innocent Mexican bystander has also been confirmed dead after being hit by a stray bullet, Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal announced.

A 24-year-old man from Tamaulipas has since been arrested in relation to the kidnapping.

The FBI has stated that it will work with international partners and other law enforcement agencies to seek justice and 'hold those responsible for this horrific and violent attack accountable for their crimes'.