Two Americans killed and two others were abducted in Mexico

• Two American are dead, two are alive.
• Four US citizens were kidnapped by armed men on 3 March.
• They had traveled to Mexico for cosmetic surgery.

Two of the four Americans kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico last week are dead and two are alive and now back in the US, Mexican and US officials say.

Four US citizens were kidnapped by armed men on 3 March while driving into Matamoros in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, across the border from Texas.

According to family in the United States, they had traveled there for cosmetic surgery.

José “N,” 24, of Tamaulipas, was arrested.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “We offer our deepest condolences to the friends and families of those who were killed in these attacks.”

Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica tweeted that the two surviving victims were handed to the US on Tuesday in collaboration with the US embassy in Matamoros.

A heavily armed Mexican military convoy transported them back under armed guard.

The FBI later verified that two Americans were found deceased and that the other two had been transported to US hospitals for treatment.

“One of the surviving victims sustained serious injuries during the attack,” the FBI said.

The agency will also engage with international partners and other law enforcement organizations to “hold those responsible for this horrific and violent attack accountable for their crimes,” according to the statement.

Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard’s bodies have been recovered and are being repatriated, according to US officials.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said: “We are very sorry that this happened in our country and we send our condolences to the families of the victims, friends, and the United States government, and we will continue doing our work to guarantee peace and tranquillity.”

Family members identified the injured Americans as Latavia “Tay” McGee, a South Carolina mother of six, and Eric James Williams.

The four were traveling through Matamoros, a 500,000-person city immediately across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates when unidentified assailants opened fire, according to the FBI.

They are shown on video being carried into a pickup truck by heavily armed guys. Others look to be unconscious and are dragged to the truck while one is manhandled onto the vehicle.

Last Friday’s incident killed a Mexican woman, thought to be a 33-year-old witness more than a block away.

Later that day, Mexican officials verified the arrest of a 24-year-old male and the discovery of the four Americans at a wooden house outside Matamoros.

The victims were moved to numerous sites between their kidnapping on Friday and their discovery on Tuesday “to create uncertainty,” according to officials.

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