TWO OF FOUR AMERICANS KIDNAPPED IN DOWNTOWN MATAMOROS LAST FRIDAY FOUND DEAD: ONE OF TWO SURVIVORS IS HURT

ABC

Two of the four Americans kidnapped in Mexico have been found dead, while the other two have been found alive, according to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The Mexican president said one of those found alive was injured.

(The New York Times reported that at least one of the Americans died at the scene of the attack on Friday, in which gunmen shot at their car, according to a senior Mexican official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Of the four kidnapping victims, “two of them are dead, one person is injured and the other is alive,” said the governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal, speaking live by phone at the Mexican president’s daily news conference on Tuesday.

“Ambulances and the rest of the security personnel are on their way right now to offer support,” Mr. Villarreal said. The two survivors are now in a safe location and being offered medical attention, according to the senior Mexican official.

U.S. and Mexican authorities have been searching for the four Americans since they were kidnapped in Mexico on Friday after they crossed into the country from Texas for medical help, according to officials in both countries.)

The American citizens crossed into Matamoros, in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas just south of Brownsville, Texas, in a white minivan with North Carolina plates on Friday, according to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

"Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen shot the passengers of the vehicle," the embassy said. "The gunmen herded the four U.S. citizens into another vehicle and fled the scene with them."

The four Americans were identified as Zindell Brown, Eric James Williams and cousins Latavia "Tay" McGee and Shaeed Woodard.

McGee's mother, Barbara Burgess, told ABC News that her daughter traveled from South Carolina to Mexico for a cosmetic medical procedure.

On Friday, the day of the appointment, Burgess said McGee called to say she was 15 minutes away from the doctor's office. Burgess called McGee later that day but never heard back, she said.

The Americans were taken after getting caught in the middle of a confrontation between groups, according to Mexico's president, who told reporters Monday that they "crossed the border to buy medicines in Mexico."