A 21-year-old American man was reportedly involved in a failed coup attempt in Congo while on his first journey abroad. He subsequently appeared in a video pleading for his life, and his fate remains unknown.
Fifty individuals, including three Americans, were apprehended in connection with a wild scheme to overthrow the Congolese government.
Christian Malanga, 41, was the leader of the plot and was fatally shot during the thwarted uprising on Sunday.
Tyler Thompson, 21, convicted marijuana trafficker Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, and Marcel Malanga, 21, the son of Malanga, a Utah high school football player, were the US citizens apprehended for their purported involvement in the unsuccessful endeavor.
According to Miranda Thompson, Thompson’s stepmother, her stepson traveled overseas for the first time last month to visit the family of his close friend Marcel, with whom he had played high school football in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, Utah.
She also mentioned that it was his initial solo flight.
Thompson’s involvement in the unsuccessful rebellion remains uncertain.
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