American Youtuber shot by gunmen in Philippines who kidnapped him in speedboat
By Emily Crane,
1 days ago
An American YouTuber living in the Philippines was kidnapped from his home by a group of masked gunmen who shot him in the leg and whisked him off on a speedboat, local authorities said Friday.
Elliot Onil Eastman, a 26-year-old Vermont native, was taken at gunpoint from Sibuco, a coastal town on the island of Mindanao in the country’s south, late Thursday by four men apparently posing as police officers.
The suspects, armed with M16 rifles and dressed in black clothing, forced their way into Eastman’s home where he lives with his Filipina wife – and opened fire when he tried to fight them off, cops said.
An American identified as Elliot Onil Eastman, from Vermont, was reportedly abducted by gunmen in Sibuco town, Zamboanga del Norte province, southern Philippines. Elliot Eastman/Facebook
The men then forced an injured Eastman onto the getaway boat and fled out to sea, authorities added.
Several Filipino law enforcement agencies have since launched a “hot pursuit operation” in a bid to find the missing American and his kidnappers.
The abduction was reported to cops by Eastman’s father-in-law, police said.
Eastman has been living in the Philippines since May after meeting his future wife, Karisha Jala Eastman, when he visited the country a year earlier.
After they tied the knot in July 2023, Eastman returned to the US for a brief period before permanently relocating to his Muslim spouse’s hometown, police said.
“Based on the initial profile given to us, he got married to a local in the area,” regional police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Helen Galvez told Agence France-Presse.
A search is underway for an American national after he was kidnapped in the Philippines. AP
“He has been there for about five months.”
Eastman regularly shares footage of his life in the Philippines on his YouTube channel and other social media platforms.
“I came to the Philippines about a year and half ago where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the red zone of the Philippines,” the bio on his YouTube page states.
“Zamboanga del Norte is a recently developed area of the Philippines that was once only accessible by boat,” he continues.
A man points to a believed to be bloodstain in the sand in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte on October 18, 2024, where abducted American national Elliot Onil Eastman was shot by gunmen. AFP via Getty Images
“I will be showing you my day to day life as the first and only foreigner to have ever lived here in sibuco for a long period of time.”
The southern Philippines, the homeland of a Muslim minority in the largely Roman Catholic nation, is home to the Abu Sayyaf group , which is listed as a terrorist organization by the US and the Philippines.
The group has been known, in the past, to carry out mass kidnappings for ransom – particularly targeting American and other Western tourists and religious missionaries.
As of Friday, police said no one had demanded a ransom over Eastman’s abduction.
A US embassy spokesman in Manila told reporters that it was “aware of the reports and are coordinating with local authorities.”
They declined to comment further on the abduction.
With Post wires
For top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com.
Comments / 17
Add a Comment
Vladimir Saintinard
1h ago
What’s his channel
FOX News
4h ago
almost all of his recent videos of are him bragging about how much money he’s spending out there, and bragging about how he opened a shop in the most dangerous area in the philippines, this dude was painting a target on his forehead
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Local News
