Mexican man fatally shot by ICE was not the target of Houston immigration operation, source says

A man who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston on his way to work Tuesday was not the target of an immigration operation, according to a source with preliminary details about the case.

The conflict took place around 07:00 in the morning. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo In a previous statement, ICE described it as a “targeted enforcement operation,” saying agents were trying to evade arrest when they attempted a traffic stop. The agency did not say whether he was a target.

Texas authorities had previously notified ICE of two men (neither of whom were Salgado Araujo) traveling in a white van who, according to the source, did not have legal status in the United States, and asked them to surveil the vehicle.

A Homeland Security official told CNN that agents later surveilled the target’s address and noticed two white vans on the property weeks before the incident.

“On July 7, when officers nearly arrived at the target’s address, they spotted a white van with a person resembling the target on board. Officers then initiated the stop of the vehicle,” the official said. he added.

The source said the van was registered to Salgado Araujo, who agents found was in the country illegally. The source added that ICE vehicles tried to block the van but hit at least one of the vehicles.

ICE said Tuesday that Salgado Araujo crashed into a law enforcement vehicle and refused to comply with multiple verbal orders from an ICE agent before firing his gun in self-defense.

Salgado Araujo’s family disputed the government’s statement, saying they believed the man, who was seeking a work permit and had no criminal record, would have stopped and complied with federal agents had he known the car following him belonged to ICE or another law enforcement agency.

CNN asked the Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, whether immigration enforcement officers identified themselves to Salgado Araujo and is awaiting a response.

The 52-year-old father of three encountered ICE agents while picking up the last members of his team of construction workers in Houston’s East Side area before heading north to finish construction on several homes, Salgado Araujo’s oldest son said Wednesday. His son told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday that Salgado Araujo was wary of being followed because his van and tools had been stolen in the past.

As of Thursday afternoon, no video or photos of the traffic stop or shooting had been released by federal authorities. A DHS spokesperson told CNN that the officers involved have not yet been issued body-worn cameras.

Body cameras have been deployed to more than half of ICE’s field offices, and the rest will receive them within the next 60 days, the spokesman said, citing the government shutdown that halted deployment of the cameras.

Meanwhile, the video taken after the attack was published on social media. – sparks great distress and calls for a review of the evidence.

According to ICE, the DHS Office of Inspector General is currently conducting an investigation into the shooting. And the FBI’s Houston field office is investigating an alleged assault on a federal law enforcement officer.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is continuing its own investigation and is independently gathering information about the shooting, but “access to key evidence is under federal control,” according to spokesman Rafael Lemaitre.

Texas Democratic lawmakersActivists and Salgado Araujo’s family called for an independent and transparent investigation into his death, while the League of United Latin American Citizens offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

The family also requested that Salgado Araujo’s body be returned to them, LULAC CEO Juan Proaño told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday night.

The Mexican government said Thursday, citing the death of Salgado Araujo and several other Mexican citizens in immigration detention. initiate legal and legal proceedings “To protect the human rights of Mexicans in the United States.”

The case, last someone seriously injured or was killed this year after he was shot by a federal immigration enforcement officer. This also raises questions about who he is. targeted challenges Trump administration with a nationwide immigration enforcement says It aims to remove dangerous criminals from the United States.

‘Help me! They shot me!’

His son told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday that Ronaldo Salgado’s mother told him Tuesday morning that his father was “in trouble.” They didn’t know what happened, but they suspected it was ICE related.

Salgado Araujo had previously met with his lawyers about what he should do if he were abducted by ICE: He would refuse to sign anything and would call his son or wife to seek his release, his son said at a news conference Wednesday.

After receiving news from his mother, Ronaldo Salgado immediately went to his father’s construction site for an hour to find his minibus.

“If he had been detained by ICE, he would have asked for the van to be delivered to the job site so other workers there could finish the houses and the families could be paid,” his son said Wednesday.

After searching fruitlessly, Ronaldo Salgado came across a Facebook post about ICE activities in the East Coast area. Around 8:30 a.m., he went there to find his father’s van on a pedestrianized street, but there was still no sign of him.

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“I remained at the facility for several hours demanding answers from all officers present and the public regarding my father’s whereabouts,” Ronaldo Salgado told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

A video later posted on social media stopped him in his tracks.

“I recognized him immediately, not from his appearance, but from his voice screaming for help as he lay bleeding on the street,” Ronaldo Salgado told reporters through tears on Wednesday. he said.

An injured man lies face down and groans in pain next to a white SUV parked near a barber shop. A federal agent kneels over him while he talks on the phone; The video was taken after the shooting. Juliet Martinez, a Houston resident who recorded the video and shared it with CNN, said she was bleeding from the right side of her stomach.

“He was screaming for help and screaming that he was in pain. ‘Help! They shot me!’ he shouted.

LULAC and Salgado Araujo’s family said video obtained moments earlier by the League of United Latin American Citizens showed Salgado Araujo’s white van turning onto Canal Street when a black SUV followed him.

A second surveillance video obtained by CNN shows Salgado Araujo driving on Canal Street when a black SUV approaches him on the left. Seconds later, another black SUV continues through the parking lot of a nearby shopping mall, heading in the direction of Salgado Araujo’s minivan and the other SUV.

Emergency services were contacted immediately following the shooting of Salgado Araujo, ICE said in an updated statement Wednesday. Salgado Araujo was registered as a John Doe when he arrived at the hospital, Proaño said.

After spending hours at the scene, Ronaldo Salgado learned which hospital his father was taken to.

“With all the hope in the world, I went to Ben Taub Hospital, the hospital where I was born, where my older brother Lorenzo Jr. was born, and where my youngest was born,” the son said at the press conference.

He said no one at the hospital could answer Ronaldo Salgado about his father’s condition. “The family had to go through extra hoops to get biometric forensic verification that he was the father,” Proaño said.

Ronaldo Salgado said he later learned of his father’s death from social media reports confirmed by local organizations and elected officials.

He called his mother to tell her the news: The man they called “El mundo entero,” or “the whole world,” had been murdered.

The cause of death was determined to be a “penetrating gunshot wound to the torso,” which was ruled a homicide, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences told CNN on Thursday.

Three other people in the van, including Salgado Araujo’s brother, were detained, according to his family.

A hardworking family man

For the last 35 years, Salgado AraujoHis day started the same way, his family said: He woke up at 5 a.m., kissed his wife goodbye, loaded his work van and went to pick up his construction crew for work in Houston.

But on Tuesday, Salgado Araujo’s day would not end the way it always did. He would not come home, have a hearty dinner prepared by his wife, and spend the rest of the evening listening to music on the veranda of the house he had built for his family.

Ronaldo Salgado wants the world to remember his father not for how he died, but for the life he lived as a family man who believed in the American dream.

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“He didn’t deserve to be relegated to the headline ‘Mexican man shot to death by ICE,'” he said in a statement Wednesday. “He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father, and a job creator for dozens of men who wanted the American dream.”

His son said Salgado Araujo was “close to receiving his legal status,” recalling that he had submitted photos and statements from employers and loved ones to apply for a work permit over the past year and a half.

“We dotted every ‘i’, dotted every ‘t’, filled out every document, attended every appointment,” Ronaldo Salgado said.

Ronaldo Salgado said that his father “never wanted his name to be known by anyone outside his family.” news conference. “He wanted nothing more in life than to provide for his wife and to see his sons become wonderful people.”

Salgado Araujo and his wife met in Mexico when they were teenagers, their son said. Ronaldo Salgado said that he raised his three sons “with the idea that education will take us to a point in life.” The elder son became a teacher, while his brothers turned to engineering.

Salgado Araujo ran his own construction business and was “known for his work ethic, fairness, and willingness to help anyone in need.” GoFundMe page he says. When his son knocked on Salgado Araujo’s door, he explained that Salgado Araujo had recruited them to work with him.

Ronaldo Salgado said his father “just wanted to come back to work and to us.”

“It makes me very sad to see that the man who taught me the value of hard work, family values ​​and the value of education will no longer spend an evening on that porch,” he said.

CNN’s Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Karina Tsui contributed to this report.

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