Four U.S. citizens were kidnapped in a brazen attack carried out by multiple gunmen in the northern Mexico border city of Matamoros, the FBI said.
U.S. officials confirmed on Monday that a Mexican citizen was killed in the incident.
The Americans traveled to Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates.
The FBI San Antonio Division office said in a statement Sunday that the vehicle came under fire shortly after it entered Mexico.
“All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” the office said.
The FBI is now offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of the culprits.
Here is what we know so far about the case.
What footage and photos from the scene show
A video posted on Twitter on Friday appears to show the moment the Americans were kidnapped, CBS News correspondent Christina Ruffini reports.
In the video, one woman is forced by men armed with guns to climb into the bed of a white pickup truck. The men then proceed to drag two people into the vehicle.
The first woman is walking and sits in the back of the truck; the other two people seem to be unresponsive, but their condition is unknown. The video appears to show some of them may be wounded.
Photographs from the scene viewed by the AP show a white minivan with the driver’s side window shot and all of the doors open. The van sits on the side of the road after apparently colliding with a red SUV. The photos show people lying in the street next to the van surrounded by rifle-toting men.
The photos seem to match the video posted online, which was taken from another angle.
What U.S. officials have said about the incident
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said in a statement Monday that the Americans were kidnapped at gunpoint and that an “innocent” Mexican citizen died in the attack. He did not offer any additional details, but said various U.S. law enforcement agencies were working with their Mexican counterparts to recover the missing U.S. citizens.
President Biden was informed about the situation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. She declined to answer other questions, citing privacy concerns.
What were the Americans doing in Matamoros
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that the Americans had crossed the border to buy medicine and ended up…
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