by Two of the four US citizens who have disappeared after an act of violence Kidnapping in Mexico last week were found dead and two are alive, Mexican authorities said on Tuesday. Tamaulipa’s Gov. Américo Villarreal said one of the surviving US citizens was injured and the other was not.
The Attorney General of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where the Americans disappeared on Friday, said on Facebook that all four people had been found.
“Investigative and intelligence work continues to track those responsible,” the statement said.
The group of Americans was found during a joint search, according to the attorney general, but how officers ultimately located and rescued them remained unclear.
“Of the four, two are dead, one person is wounded and the other is alive, and right now the ambulances and the rest of the security personnel are on their way to provide the appropriate assistance,” Villarreal said.
The governor did not share details of where or how they were found, or the nature of the wounded American’s injuries.
CBS News has learned that the Americans kidnapped are Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Eric James Williams and Zindell Brown. Mexican officials have not released information about who died and who survived.
Officials previously said a Mexican woman also died in the crossfire on Friday. Her identity is not known.
The Americans were kidnapped after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Matamoros, a border town in northern Mexico, the FBI said earlier this week. All four people had traveled Friday from Brownsville, Texas, to Mexico in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that the four Americans crossed the border to buy medicine and were caught in the crossfire between two groups of armed people.
Their car was hit by gunshots shortly after the group crossed the border in Matamoros, the San Antonio office of the FBI’s Division reported in a statement released Sunday.
“All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and removed from the scene by gunmen,” the bureau said. At the time, the FBI announced a $50,000 reward in return for the return of the victims and the arrest of the kidnappers.
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A video posted to Twitter on Friday caused national concern because it appeared to show the moment the Americans were kidnapped, CBS News’ Christina Ruffini previously reported. The video features a woman walking alone before being forced into a white pickup truck. Men in bulletproof vests armed with guns then appeared to force several others into the vehicle. At least two of the victims were seen being dragged across the sidewalk to the truck.
On Monday, US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said in a statement that Americans had been “violently kidnapped at gunpoint” and that US authorities would coordinate with their counterparts in Mexico to recover the missing.
President Joe Biden has also been briefed on the situation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news conference Monday.
“This type of attack is unacceptable,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “Our thoughts are with the families of these individuals and we stand ready to provide any appropriate consular assistance.”
This is an evolving story. Check for updates again.
