MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A U.S. consulate official says the American tourist reportedly was shot and killed by Mexican pirates on a border lake may have been a victim of mistaken identity.
Brian Quigley is a spokesman for the U.S. consulate in Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas.
He says he thinks "what you had is two innocent American tourists who mistakenly stumbled into a bad area and were pursued, and the shooting occurred."
Quigley was responding to a report by Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based public policy research group that analyzes the Mexican drug war.
The report suggests that David and Tiffany Hartley may have been mistaken for drug runners and attacked.
Tiffany Hartley, of McAllen, Texas, saysthey were crossing Falcon Lake on Jet Skis when pirates who patrol the Mexican half of the lake opened fire, shooting David in the back of the head.
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