Two of the four Americans missing since their brazen and violent abduction last week after crossing the border into Mexico have been found dead and two are alive, Mexican officials said Tuesday.
One of the surviving U.S. citizens was found wounded and the other was unharmed, Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal said after confirming two Americans died.
Both survivors were returned to the United States, Tamaulipas state Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said. A convoy of Mexican ambulances and SUVs was escorted by Mexican military Humvees, armored vehicles, state police and the National Guard in trucks with mounted .50-caliber machine guns. It was not immediately clear whether the bodies of those killed had been returned.
One suspect was in custody, authorities said.
Mexican officials said the Americans vanished Friday after getting caught in the crossfire of rival cartel groups in the border city of Matamoros in Tamaulipas state, just below Brownsville, Texas. The gunmen unleashed a barrage of bullets on the Americans after they crossed the border in a white minivan, the FBI reported.
Here’s what we know so far about the kidnapping.
How did the kidnapping happen?
The Americans encountered the gunfire shortly after crossing the border in the minivan with North Carolina license plates, according to Mexican officials and Special Agent Oliver Rich, who is in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio Division.
Shortly after, unidentified gunmen fired upon the passengers in the vehicle, and the four Americans were placed in a pickup and taken from the scene by the men.
A woman driving in Matamoros who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal told The Associated Press she witnessed what appeared to be the shooting and abduction. The white minivan was hit by another vehicle near an intersection, then gunfire rang out, the woman said. Another SUV rolled up, and several armed men hopped out.
“All of a sudden (the gunmen) were in front of us,” she said. “I entered a state of shock, nobody honked their horn, nobody moved. Everybody must have been thinking the same thing: ‘If we move they will see us, or they might shoot us.’”
Identities of Americans emerging
A relative of one of the Americans said Monday that the four had traveled from South Carolina so one of them could get a tummy tuck from a doctor in the border city of Matamoros. Zalandria Brown, of Florence, South Carolina, said authorities told her that her younger brother, Zindell Brown, 28, was among them.
“This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from,” Brown told The Associated Press. “To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable.”
Garland says US fighting to ‘dismantle and disrupt’ cartels
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday that he had been briefed on the status of the kidnapped Americans by the FBI, which was working with Mexican authorities along with officials from the Justice and State departments. He offered sympathies to the victims and their families.
Referring generally to the violence that the Mexican drug cartels have wrought, Garland said: “Look, the cartels are responsible for the deaths of Americans. … We are fighting as hard as possible. The DEA and FBI are doing everything possible to dismantle and disrupt and ultimately prosecute the leaders of the cartels and the entire networks they depend on.”
– Kevin Johnson
US working with Mexico on investigation
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the Biden administration is working with Mexico to learn more about the kidnapping.
“We’re going to work closely with the Mexican government to ensure that justice is done in this case,” Kirby said, adding that the Justice Department was in contact with its Mexican counterpart. “Right now, our immediate concerns are for the safe return of our citizens, the health and the well-being of those who survived.”
Attacks on U.S. citizens “are unacceptable, no matter where, under what circumstances they occur,” he said.
– Rebecca Morin
Who are the Americans? What to know about victims
Law enforcement has not released the identities of the Americans, but Brown said she has been in contact with the FBI and local officials after learning that her younger brother, Zindell, is one of the four.
“This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from,” she said in a phone interview to the Associated Press. “To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable.”
Tamaulipas’ chief prosecutor, Irving Barrios, said a Mexican woman died in the attack Friday, but it was not clear whether she was connected to the kidnapping.
Why were the victims in Mexico?
Zalandria Brown said her brother, who lives in Myrtle Beach, and two friends had accompanied a third friend who was going to Mexico for tummy tuck surgery. A doctor who advertises such surgeries in Matamoros did not answer calls seeking comment.
Brown said the group was extremely close and they all made the trip in part to split the driving. They were aware of the dangers in Mexico, she added, and her brother had expressed some misgivings.
“Zindell kept saying ‘We shouldn’t go down,’” Brown said.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that the four Americans were in the country for medicine.
A TREK FOR HEALTH CARE: 4 kidnapped Americans crossed into Mexico to purchase medicine, Mexican president says
Video appears to show attack
A video posted to social media Friday showed men with assault rifles and tan body armor loading the four people into the bed of a white pickup in broad daylight.
One was alive and sitting up, but the others appeared either dead or wounded. At least one person appeared to lift his head from the pavement before being dragged to the truck.
Mexican president blasts US media coverage
Mexico’s president complained about the U.S. media’s coverage of the incident, accusing the media of sensationalizing the events.
“It’s not like that when they kill Mexicans in the United States, they go quiet like mummies,” Obrador said.
“It’s very unfortunate. They (the U.S. government) has the right to protest like they have,” he said. “We really regret that this happens in our country.”
How are US, Mexican authorities responding?
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said U.S. justice agencies had been working with their Mexican law enforcement counterparts to recover the Americans.
On Monday, Mexican army soldiers gathered in Matamoros and began a search mission.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden was aware of the situation and is “closely following the assault and kidnapping.”
She said the U.S. Department Homeland Security is also coordinating with Mexican authorities to “bring those responsible to justice.”
Jean-Pierre declined to answer other questions, citing privacy concerns.
The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the return of the Americans and the arrest of those responsible for the attack.
Matamoros, Tamaulipas under US travel advisories
The U.S. State Department has issued a Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory for U.S. citizens in Tamaulipas, citing crime and kidnapping there. The alert level is the same travel designation given to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
The kidnapping illustrates the terror that has prevailed for years in Matamoros, a city dominated by factions of the powerful drug cartel that often fight among themselves.
Amid the violence, thousands of Mexicans have disappeared in Tamaulipas state alone.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Americans kidnapped in Mexico live updates: 2 found dead, 2 survive