Two of Four Americans Kidnapped and Shot in Mexico Confirmed Dead

Two Americans who were kidnapped along the Mexico border near Texas last week are dead ... this according to state officials.

Americo Villarreal -- the governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which encompasses the border city of Matamoros, where the abductions occurred -- confirmed Tuesday that they'd found all 4 U.S. citizens who were taken by armed assailants ... and 2 were deceased.

As for the 2 others, one is reported to be injured. No word yet on where they were found or under what circumstances, but emergency personnel are on the scene and attending to the surviving Americans.

The crew of four -- who have since been identified by friends and family as Latavia McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams -- were traveling in a car with North Carolina plates, although it's unclear what state they were traveling from originally.

What we do know ... they crossed over into Mexico from Brownsville, TX in a white minivan, shortly after which they were descended upon by gunmen, who opened fire on them and snatched them up in the middle of the road -- part of which was caught on video.

Some have assumed this is cartel-related, but so far ... there's no evidence of that. The FBI has also said the group of four had no criminal ties to Mexico, and they also don't believe they were targeted before arriving in Mexico. This appears to have been carried out at random and on the spot by the criminals ... who remain at large at the moment.

The reason they were heading down to Mexico in the first place is that one of them was planning on undergoing a tummy tuck south of the border. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans to steer clear of Matamoros, noting its high risk of crime/kidnapping.

There have been reports this could be a case of mistaken identity.