Source: USA TODAY
Four American citizens were assaulted and kidnapped by unidentified gunmen after crossing into Mexico last week to buy medicine, Mexican officials said Monday.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday the four Americans were going to buy medicine and that “there was a confrontation between groups, and they were detained.”
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said in a statement the Americans were kidnapped at gunpoint and an “innocent” Mexican citizen died in the attack. He said various U.S. justice agencies were working with their Mexican counterparts to recover the missing persons.
Authorities have provided no other details about the victims.
The Americans came under gunfire from the men shortly after crossing the border on Friday through the city of Matamoros, in the Tamaulipas state, across from Brownsville, Texas, Special Agent Oliver Rich, who is in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio Division, announced Sunday.
The victims crossed into Mexico driving a white minivan with North Carolina license plates, the FBI said. Shortly after, the gunmen fired upon the passengers in the vehicle, and the four Americans were placed in another vehicle and taken from the scene by the men.
Tamaulipas’ chief prosecutor, Irving Barrios, said a Mexican woman died in the attack but did not specify whether she was killed in the same gunfight where the kidnapping took place.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday the four Americans were going to buy medicine and that “there was a confrontation between groups, and they were detained.”
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said in a statement Monday the Americans were kidnapped at gunpoint and an “innocent” Mexican citizen died in the attack. He said various U.S. justice agencies were working with their Mexican counterparts to recover the missing persons.
President Joe Biden had been informed of the situation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. She declined to answer other questions, citing privacy concerns.
Law enforcement has not released the names of those who they said were kidnapped but Zalandria Brown of Florence, South Carolina, said she has been in contact with the FBI and local officials after learning that her younger brother, Zindell Brown, is one of the four victims.
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