One of four Americans who traveled to Mexico last week for medical services and was subsequently shot and abducted has been identified by a member of his family.
Zalandria Brown, of Florence, South Carolina, identified her younger brother, Zindell Brown, as one of the four victims and said she remains in contact with the FBI and local authorities.
“This is like a bad dream you wish you would wake up from,” she said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. “To see a member of your family thrown into the back of a truck and dragged around is just unbelievable.”
Zalandria Brown said her brother lives in Myrtle Beach and two of her friends accompanied a third friend who planned to visit Mexico for tummy tuck surgery.
FOUR AMERICANS KIDNAPPED IN MEXICO MAY HAVE BEEN INTENTIONALLY TAUGHT: REPORT
The Mexican National Guard prepares a search mission for four U.S. citizens who were kidnapped by armed men in Matamoros, Mexico on Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo)
On Friday, the four Americans traveled in a white minivan with North Carolina plates from Brownsville, Texas, to the Mexican city of Matamoros, located in Tamaulipas, when the vehicle was targeted by heavily armed men, the agency said. FBI in a statement Sunday.
The Americans were then thrown into a pickup truck and have not been seen since.
Brown said the group was extremely close and that his brother expressed his hesitation during the trip.
“Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,'” Brown told the outlet.
4 AMERICANS WHO TRAVELED TO MATAMOROS, MEXICO, DISAPPEARED IN POSSIBLE KIDNAPPING: FBI
Zindell Brown’s family has asked the public to help share any relevant information with local authorities.
The victim’s father, O’dell William Brown, said the family was desperate for answers. “I don’t know which way to go right now,” he said. “We don’t know what’s what.”
The first incident occurred on Friday and was seen by several witnesses.
Gunmen kidnapped four US citizens who entered Mexico from Texas last week to buy medicine and were involved in a shootout. (AP Photo)
A video posted to social media on Friday appeared to show men with assault rifles and bulletproof vests carrying the four US citizens in the back of a white pickup truck in broad daylight.
The extent of the victims’ injuries was not immediately clear, although some appeared injured or dead.
Photos taken at the scene show bullet holes in the van and its windows smashed.
GOP SENATORS TOUR SOUTHERN TEXAS BORDER, SAY MIGRANT CRISIS IS A ‘SELF-INFLICTED WOUND’
A member of the Mexican security forces stands next to a white minivan with North Carolina license plates and multiple bullet holes, at the crime scene where gunmen kidnapped four US citizens who entered Mexico from Texas, Friday, March 3 2023. (AP Photo)
A woman who reportedly witnessed the crash told the Associated Press she saw a vehicle collide with the white minivan near an intersection. Then gunfire erupted as another SUV pulled up and several gunmen jumped out.
“Suddenly they (the gunmen) were in front of us,” said the woman, who said she did not want to be identified due to possible retaliation. “I went into a state of shock, nobody honked, nobody moved. Everyone must have thought the same thing: ‘If we move they’ll see us or they might shoot us.'”
The witness said the gunmen forced a woman, who was able to walk, into the back of their truck. Another victim, who saw her head move, was taken to the truck.
“The other two that they dragged to the sidewalk, we don’t know if they were dead or alive,” he said.
Mexican Army soldiers prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens abducted by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico on Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo)
Mexican authorities arrived at the scene minutes later.
Matamoros is located on the southern tip of Texas near the Gulf Coast and is dominated by powerful factions of the Gulf drug cartel, who often fight with each other.
Thousands of Mexicans have disappeared in Tamaulipas as a result of this violence and the shootings in Matamoros were so violent on Friday that the US consulate has issued a notice urging caution.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday that “there was a clash between groups and they were arrested.” Tamaulipas Chief Prosecutor Irving Barri later said a woman died in the shooting, but did not specify whether she was killed in the same firefight as the kidnapping.
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
