By ALFREDO PEÑA (Associated Press)
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — Two Americans whose abduction in Mexico was captured in a video that confirmed them caught in a cartel shootout have been discovered lifeless, officers mentioned Tuesday. Two others who had been kidnapped with them had been discovered alive, with one wounded.
Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal mentioned ambulances and safety forces had been bringing them to security, however didn’t present particulars on the extent of the wounded particular person’s accidents.
The FBI had mentioned Sunday it was looking with Mexican authorities for the lacking U.S. residents. A relative of considered one of them mentioned Monday that that they had traveled collectively from South Carolina so considered one of them might get a tummy tuck from a physician within the metropolis of Matamoros, the place Friday’s kidnapping came about, simply throughout the border from Brownsville, Texas.
Shortly after coming into Mexico they had been caught amid combating between rival cartel teams within the metropolis. A video confirmed them being loaded into the again of a pickup truck by gunmen.
Officials mentioned a Mexican lady additionally died in Friday’s crossfire.
The U.S. residents had been present in a rural space east of Matamoros referred to as Ejido Longoreño on the way in which to an space on the Gulf coast often called “Bagdad Beach,” in line with a state authority who requested anonymity as a result of he was not approved to talk about the case. Word of their location got here to authorities earlier than daybreak Tuesday.
Villarreal confirmed the deaths by telephone throughout a morning information convention by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, saying particulars in regards to the 4 kidnapped Americans had been confirmed by prosecutors.
López Obrador mentioned one suspect was in custody.
“Those responsible will be found and they are going to be punished,” he mentioned, referencing arrests made within the 2019 killings of 9 U.S.-Mexican twin residents in Sonora close to the U.S. border.
Mexico’s president complained in regards to the U.S. media’s protection of the lacking Americans, accusing them of sensationalism. “It’s not like that when they kill Mexicans in the United States, they go quiet like mummies.”
“It’s very unfortunate, they (the U.S. government) has the right to protest like they have,” he mentioned. “We really regret that this happens in our country.”
The abduction illustrates the fear that has prevailed for years in Matamoros, a metropolis dominated by factions of the highly effective Gulf drug cartel who typically battle amongst themselves. Amid the violence, hundreds of Mexicans have disappeared in Tamaulipas state alone.
Video and images taken throughout and instantly after the kidnapping Friday present the Americans’ white minivan sitting beside one other car {that a} witness mentioned had collided with it. Almost instantly a number of gunmen in tactical vests and toting assault rifles arrived in one other car to encompass the scene.
They walked one of many Americans to a white pickup and dragged and loaded the three others whereas terrified drivers sat silently of their vehicles hoping not to attract their consideration. Two of the victims seemed to be immobile.
The FBI had provided a $50,000 reward for the victims’ return and the arrest of the abductors.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”