Four Black Americans are missing after they were shot and dragged into a pickup truck by members of a Mexican cartel.
So far, nothing is known about the fate of the Americans who were kidnapped just after crossing over the border into Mexico on Friday, March 3.
The FBI confirms the Americans crossed into Matamoros, Mexico in a vehicle with North Carolina license plates.
Chilling cellphone video shows heavily armed gunmen firing upon passengers in a vehicle near the border. The four Americans, including a woman, are then dragged from the vehicle and into the bed of a white pickup truck.
A U.S. government official told CNN the Americans were attacked “by mistake” and were not the intended targets. They did not enter Mexico for criminal purposes the official told the New York Post.
The State Department issued a Level 4 advisory warning Americans to avoid traveling through Tamaulipas.
“Criminal groups target public and private passenger buses, as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers and demanding ransom payments.”
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the capture of the criminals involved.