Mexican Cartel Apologizes for Shooting of US Citizen, Hands Over Five Members Called Responsible: Bodies Returned

Mexican federal police illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Gioabreffilo)

JAKARTA - A Mexican drug cartel on Thursday handed over five accomplices it said were responsible for the attack on four Americans in the border town of Matamoros as an apology, according to media and sources familiar with the investigation.

Two Americans and a Mexican woman were killed after gunmen opened fire on the Americans shortly after they arrived in Matamoros on Friday. The four Americans were found Monday on the outskirts of town. At that time two of them were dead, reported Reuters March 10.

Mexican officials handed over the bodies of the two people who died, identified as Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, to US officials in Matamoros on Thursday afternoon, and they were driven across the border into the United States, a Reuters witness said.

An internal government document seen by Reuters suggests a faction of the Mexican Gulf Cartel is most likely responsible for the kidnapping. The armed group may believe that Americans are encroaching on the gang's territory.

Mexican newspapers and social media published photos of a letter attributed to a different faction of the cartel apologizing for events in Matamoros, saying it had handed over five people involved in the kidnapping.

The letter was left with five men with their hands tied in Matamoros, the photos show. A Mexican source familiar with the investigation confirmed the surrender, expressing doubt that the five men were responsible for the attack.

The Attorney General's office for Tamaulipas, the state where Matamoros is located, declined to comment on the report.

Separately, the state attorney general's office said its investigation showed the Americans were taken by their captors to a clinic where they were given medical treatment.

Mexican sources said evidence indicated Woodard and Brown may have died from their injuries sustained during an attack by gunmen in Matamoros on Friday last week. Two of their surviving colleagues returned to the US earlier this week.

Attorney General Tamaulipas said on Monday the kidnapping of the four people was most likely a case of mistaken identity, but authorities had not clearly explained the reason for the attack.