According to police, four US citizens were fired at and kidnapped by gunmen after crossing the Mexican border to get medicine, and a search is underway to find them.
According to the FBI, the anonymous Americans arrived in Matamoros from Texas on Friday and were apprehended after armed individuals opened fire on their minivan.
According to Mexico’s president, the four had gone to get medicine and were trapped in the gunfire between two groups of gunmen.
“They are people from the United States, and the information we have is that they crossed the border to acquire medicine in Mexico, and there was a dispute between groups, and they were detained,” Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters.
“That is already being addressed. I believe it will be resolved. I expect and hope so “He continued.
According to the White House, US President Joe Biden is aware of the “unacceptable” kidnappings and is “ready to provide all required diplomatic support,” and American law enforcement is in contact with Mexican law enforcement.
The FBI San Antonio Division office reported the four Americans were “put in a vehicle and abducted from the site by armed guys”.
Matamoros is only a few miles south of Brownsville, Texas.
The Americans were taken at gunpoint, according to US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, and one “innocent” Mexican was killed.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 prize.
Mexican and US police announced on Monday that they were seeking to find the four Americans, and the FBI is offering a $50,000 (£41,000) reward for the victims’ safe return and the arrest of the perpetrators.
The four were in a white minivan with North Carolina licence plates when they arrived in Matamoros, according to the American embassy in Mexico.
According to the report, the armed men shot on the passengers shortly after their vehicle crossed the border and then packed them into another vehicle before departing the scene.
On Friday, a video circulated on social media showing armed men, some wearing body armour, loading four victims into the back of a truck in broad daylight. One of them was awake and sitting up, but the others appeared to be dead or damaged.
Matamoros is home to rival sections of the Gulf drug gang, and gunfights there on Friday were so intense that the American consulate issued an alert and local police advised residents to seek shelter.
Due to “crime and kidnapping,” the US State Department has issued a “do not travel” advisory for Tamaulipas state, which includes Matamoros.
As a border city, US individuals living in Brownsville or elsewhere in Texas frequently cross to visit relatives, attend medical appointments, or shop, and it also serves as a crossing point for visitors travelling deeper into Mexico.