Video captures moment four US citizens in Mexico were kidnapped at gunpoint
Anna Giaritelli
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A newly released video captured the moment that four American citizens were kidnapped at gunpoint immediately after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and dragged through the street into a pickup truck by men in bulletproof vests.
Video taken by a witness posted on Monday showed the moments after criminals began shooting at a white minivan with a North Carolina license plate. The van drove across the international bridge from Brownsville, Texas, into Matamoros, Mexico, and passed through Mexican customs ports of entry inspection lanes before the sudden attack on Friday.
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One of the gunmen walked a woman from the van, which was out of camera range, to the back of the truck and loaded her onto the flatbed. Other gunmen dragged three more people on the street to the truck, then worked collectively to lift them onto the flatbed. The pickup truck was surrounded by other vehicles in the middle of an intersection.
“All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” according to a statement from the FBI’s San Antonio, Texas, field office obtained by the Daily Mail.
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The FBI’s San Antonio field office is handling the investigation and has offered a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the kidnapped group’s recovery.
The FBI has not disclosed if any of the four were injured during the attack or if the kidnapping was at random or if the four individuals were the particular target.
Tamaulipas, the Mexican border state where the kidnapping took place, is one of six states that the U.S. State Department had listed prior to the incident as having the most severe recommendations against visiting.
The government website states, “Do not travel to Tamaulipas state due to crime and kidnapping.”
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U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico issued a warning Friday, the day of the kidnapping, to avoid traveling through the state.
“The U.S. Consulate Matamoros has received reports of police activity occurring in the vicinity of Calle Primera and Lauro Villar in connection to a shooting. Media reports indicate that one individual has been killed,” the government website stated. “U.S. government employees have been instructed to avoid the area until further notice. The U.S. Consulate General reminds U.S. citizens that Tamaulipas is classified as Level 4: Do Not Travel in the State Department’s travel advisory for Mexico.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the FBI for comment.