The family of an American caught up in a failed coup attempt in Congo said their son was in Africa on vacation with family friends and had not previously engaged in political activism, according to a statement provided to The Associated Press.
Tyler Thompson, 21, was one of at least three Americans who were named by the Congolese army as being part of a failed effort to overthrow the government in Kinshasa in the early hours Sunday under eccentric, self-exiled leader Christian Malanga. The two other Americans allegedly involved were Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, and Malanga’s Utah-born son, Marcel, 21, who was arrested by Congolese forces.
