First of four Americans kidnapped in Mexico has been identified

One in four Americans who traveled to Mexico last week for health services has been identified by a family member and later shot dead.

Zalandria Brown of Florence, South Carolina, identified her younger brother Zindel Brown as one of the four victims and said she has remained in contact with the FBI and local authorities.

“It’s like a nightmare you wish you could wake up from,” she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “To see a member of my family being thrown and dragged behind a truck, it’s unbelievable.”

Zalandria Brown said her brother lives in Myrtle Beach and two of her friends went with a third friend, who planned to fly to Mexico for tummy tuck surgery.

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The Mexican National Guard prepares a search mission for four US citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo)

On Friday, four Americans traveled from Brownsville, Texas, in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates to the Mexican city of Matamoros, located in Tamaulipas, when heavily armed men opened fire on the vehicle, the FBI said in a statement on Sunday. .

The Americans were then dumped in a pickup and have not been seen since.

Brown said the group was extremely close and that his brother expressed his reluctance to travel.

“Zindel said, ‘We shouldn’t go down,'” Brown told the outlet.

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Zindel Brown’s family asked the public to help by sharing any relevant information with local authorities.

O’Dell William Brown, the victim’s father, said the family is desperate for answers. “I don’t know which way to go right now,” he said. “We don’t know what that is.”

The initial incident happened on Friday and was witnessed by several witnesses.

Gunmen kidnapped and engaged in a crossfire of four US citizens entering Mexico from Texas last week to buy drugs. (AP Photo)

A video posted on social media on Friday showed men with assault rifles and body armor carrying four US citizens into the bed of a white pickup in broad daylight.

The extent of the victims’ injuries was not immediately clear, although some appeared to be injured or dead.

Pictures taken from the spot showed bullet holes in the van and shattered glass.

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A member of Mexican security forces stands next to a white minivan with North Carolina plates and multiple bullet holes at the crime scene where gunmen kidnapped four US citizens entering Mexico from Texas, Friday, March 3, 2023. took. (AP Photo)

A woman who reportedly witnessed the incident told The Associated Press that she saw a vehicle collide with a white minivan near an intersection. Then gunshots were heard as another SUV rolled up and several armed men got out.

“All of a sudden they (the gunmen) were in front of us,” said the woman, who said she did not want to be identified because of possible retaliation. “I went into a state of shock, no one honked, no one moved. Everyone must be thinking the same thing, ‘If we move they’ll see us, or they can shoot us.'”

Witnesses said the gunmen forced a woman who could walk into the back of their truck. Another victim, whom he saw shaking his head, was carried to the truck.

“The other two they dragged onto the pavement, we don’t know whether they were alive or dead,” she said.

Mexican Army soldiers prepare a search mission for four US citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo)

Mexican officers were on the scene minutes later.

Matamoros is located on the southernmost tip of Texas near the Gulf Coast and is dominated by the Gulf’s powerful drug cartel factions, which are often at war with each other.

The violence that caused thousands of Mexicans to disappear in Tamaulipas and Friday’s shootings in Matamoros was so bad that the US consulate issued an alert urging caution.

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday that “there was a confrontation between the groups, and they were detained.” Tamaulipas Chief Prosecutor Irving Barri later reported that a woman had died of gunshot wounds, but did not specify whether she was killed in the same encounter where the kidnapping took place.

The bureau is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of those responsible.

The Associated Press contributed to this report