Terrifying moment: Four Americans are kidnapped at gunpoint after crossing the US-Mexico border in a white minivan: FBI offers $50,000 reward
- The Americans reportedly entered the Mexican border city of Matamoros on Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates.
- “The four Americans were placed in a vehicle and driven from the scene by armed men,” the office said.
- Matamoros is in one of six Mexican states that the US state has currently included in its most severe ‘no travel’ category
Shocking cellphone video footage captured the gruesome moment four Americans were loaded onto the bed of a pickup truck after being shot and kidnapped in Mexico.
The victims, whose names have not been released, were attacked by a group of armed men moments after they entered the border city of Matamoros on Friday.
The FBI said the group entered Matamoros through Brownsville, Texas. They had traveled in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates.
The video shows one of the gunmen escorting a woman to the van and forcing her to sit on the bed. Meanwhile, his cohort is dragging a man across the pavement before he and two other men are thrown into the vehicle.
The vehicle was attacked shortly after entering Mexican territory, according to an investigation by the FBI office in San Antonio.
“The four Americans were placed in a vehicle and driven from the scene by armed men,” the office said.
Four Americans are forced to the ground after the hijackers opened fire on their vehicle moments after they entered the Mexican border city of Matamoros on Friday. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts.
A white North Carolina minivan carrying four US citizens was shot at by a group of gunmen on Friday in Matamoros, Mexico. The occupants were kidnapped, according to the FBI.
The Gateway International Bridge spans the Rio Grande in the border city of Matamoros, Mexico
A map highlighting the six of the 32 Mexican states that the US State Department has currently listed in its most severe ‘no travel’ category, due to local cartels that may rob and/or kidnap tourists americans.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the capture of the culprits.
Matamoros is known to be territory partly occupied by warring factions of cartels dug out of the Gulf.
Gang shootings in Matamoros have turned so treacherous that the US Consulate issued a warning about the danger Friday.
Tamaulipas state police said people were killed and injured on Friday, but did not say how many.
Matamoros is located in one of the six Mexican states that the US state currently has in its most severe ‘no travel’ category, due to local cartels that may rob and/or kidnap American tourists.