This is just so heartbreaking. Socialites, one of the four people who were kidnapped in Mexico on Friday shared a sentimental repost about Shanquella Robinson’s death just months before she’d come close to losing her own life.
South Carolina native Latavia McGee had reacted to the disturbing video of Robinson being beaten by a so-called “friend” back in October, shortly after arriving at the rental property that she and her acquaintances were staying at in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
One of the friends was set to celebrate their birthday during the trip, but just one day after her arrival, Robinson was found dead, with those who were around her saying she had died from alcohol poisoning; the autopsy, however, stated otherwise. In her Facebook post, McGee, who reportedly traveled to Mexico for a tummy tuck, took a screenshot of a message written by another social media user, who said that having a “key-key” with someone does not instantly make them your friend. “The term is associate,” she wrote.
“Friendship isn’t determined by time spent having fun or how long you’ve known someone. Are they there are you guys have a disagreement, illness, goes broke or you told them ‘no.’” It was the viral video of Robinson getting beaten that would spark public outrage against Mexican officials who had initially attributed her death to alcohol poisoning, as claimed by her friends.
For there to have been a physical altercation a day before her death, her family demanded authorities both in the U.S. and Mexico to perform a new and extensive investigation into the case, when it was later discovered in her autopsy that Robinson had actually suffered severe spinal cord injury and an atlas luxation.
McGee visited Mexico for a cosmetic procedure and was accompanied by her cousin Shaeed Woodard and their friends Eric James Williams and Zindell Brown. While driving through Metamoros, Texas, a heavily armed cartel gang began shooting at their vehicle and kidnapped the group after transporting them onto their pickup truck. Brown and Woodward died during the shooting while Williams and McGee were taken to a hideaway house where they were reportedly tortured for three days.
McGee’s mother, Barbara Burgees, gave CNN more context to what happened after speaking to her daughter for the first time since her kidnapping, though it appeared evidently difficult for her to talk about the ambush and torturing. “They were driving through and a van came up and hit them. That van just started shooting at the car, shooting inside the van or whatever,” she explained.
Praying for the Woodard & Brown families & thankful for the safe return of Latavia Washington McGee & Eric Williams.
Biden has empowered cartels giving them operational control of the border & Americans are dying.
We must recommit to border security so this never happens again. pic.twitter.com/4QEWQNFo4b
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) March 8, 2023
“[Latavia] said the others started running and they got shot at the same time – Shaheed and Zindell – they all got shot at the same time and she watched them die.” Burgees continued that the video online of her daughter being tossed onto a truck had left her outraged and heartbroken, yet equally stunned by the senseless death of Woodard, whom she had raised since he was a teenager.
“His mother had passed away when he was like 15 and I’ve had him ever since,” Burgees added. “Latavia was in the house too, so she saw him as a brother, but he’s her cousin and my son. I miss him, I love him and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”