by According to the FBI, four Americans crossing the US-Mexico border from Texas were shot at, held at gunpoint and may have been kidnapped.
Special Agent Oliver Rich, in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio Division, announced Sunday that the FBI is asking for public assistance to locate four US citizens last seen in the northern Mexican border town of Matamoros, Tamaulipas .
They have been missing since Friday March 3rd.
“On March 3, 2023, four Americans were crossing through Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, driving a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. Shortly after crossing to Mexico, unidentified gunmen shot at passengers in the vehicle. All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and removed from the scene by gunmen,” the FBI said in a statement.
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The Gateway International Bridge between Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico seen through the border wall. Seen from the Texas side of the wall. (Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Matamoros is located on the US-Mexico border, directly across from Brownsville, Texas.
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Investigators from the FBI and its federal partners, as well as Mexican law enforcement agencies are assisting in the search for the victims.
Matamoros is notorious for feuding factions of the Gulf drug cartel, and Friday’s violence was so bad that the US consulate issued a warning.
Federal police escort travelers crossing the dangerous highway in the gang-ridden northeastern state of Tamaulipas from the border with the United States on December 16, 2015. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. Border Patrol monitors the banks of the Rio Grande near the Gateway International Bridge, between the cities of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, March 16, 2021, in Brownsville, Texas. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Tamaulipas State Police also said a number of people were killed or injured on the same day, but gave no details on how many were affected.
The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for the safe return of Americans and the arrest of those responsible.
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Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to call the FBI San Antonio Division at 210-225-6741.
A member of the National Guard guards the entrance to a property called “La Bartolina” in the border town of Matamoros, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, August 23, 2021. (ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images)
Tips may also be submitted online at https://tips.fbi.gov. These tips can be submitted anonymously.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
