A U.S. attorney in Texas revealed additional information Thursday regarding the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national and longtime U.S. resident, by an immigration officer on July 7. The disclosure raised questions about the Department of Homeland Security’s initial characterization of events surrounding the incident.
According to Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, ICE officers were conducting an enforcement operation targeting two Guatemalan nationals potentially subject to deportation. Reitz stated that officers believed Salgado Araujo and his passengers matched the description of the individuals being sought. Four officers in two separate vehicles attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but Salgado Araujo made a U-turn over a median to avoid the interaction. During a second encounter, officers surrounded the vehicle and attempted to pull it over again. Reitz said that when officers instructed Salgado Araujo to put the vehicle in park, one agent was “partially inside the van or immediately next to it” when Salgado Araujo attempted to reverse and then drive forward, prompting the officer to open fire.
The U.S. attorney’s latest statement contained notable differences from DHS’s initial account. The earlier DHS statement accused Salgado Araujo of weaponizing his vehicle and ramming it into a law enforcement vehicle, characterizing the shooting as self-defense. The subsequent statement from Reitz’s office made no mention of a collision between the van and law enforcement vehicles and did not explicitly state that the officer feared for his life. No officers sustained injuries in the incident.
The prosecutor’s statement also referenced officers observing “several small bags of a white, crystal-like substance” in the van. The FBI subsequently executed a search warrant to investigate potential drug violations. Salgado Araujo’s brother, a passenger in the vehicle at the time, has remained in ICE custody. His attorney contends the white substance was a salt mixture used by the workers to maintain electrolyte levels during manual labor in Texas heat.
The shooting sparked community protests in Houston and renewed scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement tactics following similar deaths in Florida and Maine during the immigration crackdown. The incident has generated significantly less social media coverage involving photos or videos compared to other deaths involving federal immigration officers.
Originally reported by AP News. Read the full story →