Two of the four Americans kidnapped by gunmen in Mexico last week are dead, and the other two were found alive, Mexican officials announced on Tuesday.
Officials in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state shared the discovery on social media, noting that investigations and efforts to capture those responsible are ongoing. One of the victims found alive is reportedly injured, though the nature of the injuries was not immediately clear.
In a phone call during a press conference, Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal Anaya told Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that ambulances and security personnel were on the way to recover the survivors and provide them assistance, per The Washington Post.
“We send our condolences to the relatives of the victims, their friends, to the people of the U.S., to the government of the U.S.,” López Obrador said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Of course we lament what happens in our country, and especially this.”
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The four U.S. citizens were assaulted and kidnapped on Friday after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Matamoros, Tamaulipas, while driving a white minivan with a North Carolina license plate, the FBI said in a statement released through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
“Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen fired upon the passengers in the vehicle,” the statement said. “All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men.”
The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of those involved.
The kidnapped Americans have been identified by family members who told news outlets that a South Carolina mother travelled with three friends for a medical procedure.
The State Department has a travel advisory on its website that warns U.S. citizens against traveling to Tamaulipas state, which is located south of Texas, due to “crime and kidnapping.”
During a public appearance on Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI is working with Mexican authorities and senior Justice Department officials are coordinating with their counterparts at the State Department. “During this difficult time, I want to offer my deepest sympathies to the families of the Americans who were attacked and kidnapped,” he added.