Mexico: Two Americans were killed in a violent shootout and kidnapping that was captured on video, while two others were found alive in a rural area close to the Gulf Coast, officials said Tuesday. The American was on a road trip to Mexico for cosmetic surgery.

After being taken to the border near the southernmost tip of Brownsville, Texas, in a convoy of ambulances and SUVs escorted by Mexican military Humvees and National Guard trucks with truck mounted machine guns, the survivors made their way back to American soil.

According to a relative of one of the victims, the four men left the Carolinas together on Sunday so one of them could travel to the Mexican border city of Matamoros, where Friday's abduction took place, to receive a tummy tuck from a local surgeon.

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According to Tamaulipas governor Américo Villarreal, the four were discovered in a wooden shack where they were being guarded by one of the men arrested. According to Villarreal, the Americans were carried around by their captors, and at one point they were taken to a hospital "to avoid rescue attempts".

According to the governor, after the completion of forensic work at the Matamoros morgue in the coming hours, the two dead will be handed over to the US authorities.

American victim Eric Williams was shot in the left leg, according to Villarreal, but the injury was not life-threatening. According to the Brownsville Herald, an FBI escort was used to transport the survivors to Valley Regional Medical Center. All questions were directed to the hospital by a spokeswoman.

According to Tamaulipas state chief prosecutor Irving Barrios, the US citizens were discovered in a remote area east of Matamoros called Ejido Tecolote during a trip to the "Baghdad Beach" area of the Gulf Coast.

The four were arrested shortly after their arrival in Mexico on Friday amid clashes in the city between rival cartel organisations. According to Barrios, "It was an illusion, not a direct attack,"

The white minivan belonging to the Americans is seen parked next to another vehicle with at least one bullet hole in the driver's side window in both video and images taken during the hijacking and just after.

According to eyewitnesses, both the cars collided. Assault rifles in hand, several men wearing tactical vests quickly arrived in another car to cordon off the area.

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The gunmen forced one American into the bed of a white pickup, before pulling over and loading up the other three Americans. In an attempt to avoid attracting their attention, frightened citizens sat quietly in their vehicles. Two of the victims looked as if they were still.

A Mexican woman who was about a half block away was also killed in Friday's shootings, according to officials. The shootings highlight the fear that has gripped Matamoros for years; The city is controlled by rival drug cartel factions of the powerful Gulf. Thousands of Mexican citizens have disappeared in the state of Tamaulipas alone because of the violence.

In a telephone interview, Robert Williams claimed that one of the kidnapped Americans was his 38-year-old brother, Eric Williams. He said that although the brothers are from South Carolina, they now live in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina.

Williams called his brother "fun" and "easy-going".
He did not find out that his brother was going to Mexico until the news of the kidnapping broke. However, he believes his brother did not consider the trip dangerous based on his reading of his brother's Facebook post.

"He thought it would be fun," Williams said. He said he was unaware of his brother's whereabouts. According to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, those responsible will face consequences. He cited nine dual citizens of the US and Mexico. Who was killed in Sonora near the US border in 2019.

He expressed grief over the sensationalist reporting of missing Americans in the US media. It's Not That When Mexicans Are Killed In The United States, The Media Is Silent

López Obrador said, "It is very unfortunate, they (the US government) have a right to protest like they have. We are sincerely sorry that this happens in our country."

According to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, "the American deaths are the cartels' fault." "The DEA and FBI are using every legal means at their disposal to target, disrupt and ultimately prosecute cartel leaders and entire networks they rely on."

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John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said the US was cooperating with Mexican authorities to obtain more information about the circumstances of the killings. The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for the safe return of the abductees and the capture of their captors.