Lawyer Hugo Balderas said two passengers in the van driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo dispute ICE’s account of the Houston shooting that left the 52-year-old dead. Balderas said the passengers told him no ICE agent was directly in front of the vehicle when the shots were fired.
Balderas said his clients told him the shots came from the sides, not the front, which conflicts with ICE’s version of a Tuesday enforcement operation. Salgado Araujo was shot in the abdomen and later died at Ben Taub Hospital.
ICE account in Houston
ICE said on Tuesday afternoon that it was carrying out a targeted enforcement operation in Houston. The agency said Salgado Araujo weaponized his vehicle, rammed it into an ICE car and tried to run over an ICE officer, who then shot him in self-defense.
The case has drawn scrutiny because the shooting happened during a federal immigration operation and involved competing accounts from the people inside the van. Federal officials have not named the agents involved, and no video evidence of the shooting had emerged publicly as of Friday.
Passengers in the van
Balderas said he represents two passengers and that their account does not match ICE’s description of the encounter. “They confirmed that at no point was there ever an ICE agent directly in front of the vehicle,” he said. “They also confirmed that the shots came from the sides, not from the front, which is inconsistent with the ICE statement.”
He also said, “I can tell you that my clients will forever be physically and emotionally scarred by this” and “None of these families will ever be whole.” Salgado Araujo was a father of three, originally from Mexico, and did not have legal immigration status in the U.S.
FBI and DHS investigations
The FBI said it is investigating a potential assault against a federal law enforcement officer. The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General is also investigating Salgado Araujo’s shooting death. A DHS spokesperson said one of the individuals in the van resembled the target, and a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Thursday that neither Salgado Araujo nor his brother was the intended target.
Garcia said Friday that she was told the ICE agents involved were removed from Houston. DHS also told Houston Public Media that the agents were not wearing body cameras because of recent lapses in federal funding. For now, the dispute turns on which account is supported by evidence before the federal investigations reach their findings.
