The identities of those who were found dead have not been revealed. Lopez Obrador said that one person is in custody in connection to the kidnapping, reported Reuters.
"Of the four, two of them are dead, one person is wounded and the other is alive and right now the ambulances and the rest of the security personnel are going for them for give the corresponding support," Villarreal said, according to USA Today.
Latavia "Tay" McGee had reportedly traveled to Mexico for a tummy tuck procedure on Wednesday. McGee's cousin Shaeed Woodard and friends Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams joined her.The four friends reportedly traveled from South Carolina for McGee's surgery, and when they crossed the Mexican border into Matamoros from Brownsville, Texas on Friday, they were attacked by a group of armed men who reportedly believed that they were Haitian smugglers.
The cartel then threw the Americans in the back of a pickup truck. There is currently no information on where the cartel may have taken the group of Americans.
Zalandria Brown, the older sister of Zindell, has reportedly been in contact with the FBI and local officials.
"This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from," Zalandria said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. "To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable."
The friends were reportedly aware of the potential dangers in Mexico, and Zalandria suggested that her brother was unsure if he wanted to make the trip.
"Zindell kept saying, 'We shouldn't go down,'" according to Zalandria Brown. It is unclear why Zindell changed his mind about the trip.
Barbara Burgess, McGee's mother, apparently told her daughter not to make the trip, but McGee replied: "Ma, I'll be okay."
Burgess reported that she had heard from her daughter on Friday, the day of the scheduled appointment. McGee mentioned that she was just 15 minutes away from the scheduled appointment, but when Burgess attempted to call back later that day, McGee did not answer.
"Her phone just started going to voicemail," Burgess said.
This grim scene shows how Matamoros has been filled with different factions of the Gulf drug cartel, with members often fighting amongst each other. Thousands of Mexicans have gone missing in the state of Tamaulipas alone, according to the Daily Mail.
Gunfire had become so bad in the area on Friday that the US Consulate put out an alert about the danger, and suggested that people shelter in place. However, it is currently unknown how the kidnappings played into the shootout.
