No body cameras, contradictory stories: Questions linger over fatal ICE shooting in Houston
WASHINGTON— This week’s fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant and home builder who was leading his construction crew to a job site in Houston, was at least the eighth such death during the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
The death of Salgado Araujo, the husband and father of three US citizens who had lived in the country for 35 years, sparked protests in Houston and calls for an independent investigation. Immigrant advocates noted that his death did not spark the widespread outrage that shook the country after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Federal officers were searching for someone else when they tried to stop Salgado Araujo’s vehicle, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The department alleges he crashed into an ICE vehicle, refused to comply with commands, and attempted to run over an ICE officer, causing the officer to open fire in self-defense.
But three passengers in his vehicle, one of whom was Salgado Araujo’s brother, who were detained in his vehicle and taken to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, disputed ICE’s account. At a news conference Friday, their attorney, Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, said they each told him “at no time was there an agent standing in front of the vehicle nor was any agent placed in the line of danger.”
Salgado Araujo’s family said they didn’t know the people in the unmarked vehicles were ICE officers and thought they were going to steal their tools instead.
The death marks at least the eighth fatal shooting by federal immigration officers nationwide since Trump took office. No federal officials have been charged in the deaths.
“I saw a video on Facebook reporting the shooting,” his older son, Ronaldo Salgado, said at a news conference in Texas on Wednesday. “I recognized him right away, not by his appearance but by his voice, screaming for help as he lay bleeding on the street.”
Officers approached a target’s address Tuesday when they saw a white van and someone inside who appeared to be the person they were looking for, a Homeland Security official said in a statement. They had noticed two white vans on the target’s property weeks earlier.
Following earlier shootings by some immigration officers in Minneapolis, including Alex Pretti and Renee Good, statements by federal officials that the officers acted in self-defense were contradicted by video evidence.
In this case, Homeland Security said the officers involved were not wearing body cameras. The department blamed Democrats for the lack of cameras and said the record government shutdown triggered by opposition to an immigration crackdown had delayed the purchase of new equipment.
A Homeland Security spokesman said body cameras have been installed in more than half of field offices, and the remaining half should receive them within the next two months.
The video taken by bystander Juliet Martinez shows what happened after the shooting. Inside, a black SUV is pointed at a white minivan with its door open. Federal officers stand over a man in a bloody shirt, handcuffed face down, groaning in pain as his left leg shakes. Additional officers stand over three other handcuffed men.
Salgado Araujo died in the hospital where he was taken.
Homeland Security confirmed that the department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating. The FBI’s Houston office said it is leading the investigation into a possible attack on a federal law enforcement officer.
Salgado Araujo’s death sparked outrage in Mexico, and government officials this week called on U.S. prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the case.
“We show our full support and solidarity to families who have lost a loved one or have a relative in custody—families whose only crime was working honestly in the United States,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference Thursday.
Mexico has filed a formal complaint with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the treatment of immigrants in the United States, Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Velasco said. He also said he sent cease-and-desist letters to Mexico’s private immigrant detention centers, calling for improvements in conditions that Mexico believes have led to the deaths of large numbers of immigrants.
Homeland Security said the name of the police officer who shot Salgado Araujo will not be released. The department did not say how long the officer had worked for ICE or whether any of the officers involved had been placed on leave.
Salgado Araujo’s son said his father started his own business, had no criminal record and was close to gaining legal status.
Salgado said her father was a routine-oriented family man who went to work early and liked to end the day sitting on his porch, listening to music and petting his dog.
“This is how I want the world to know my father,” Salgado said. “Not as someone who was shot and killed, but as a family man, a man who understood that good things come from those who work hard.”
Other dead include a 23-year-old Reuben Ray Martinezwas killed by an ICE agent who shot multiple times through the open window of his car in Texas. Keith PorterThe 43-year-old was killed after an off-duty ICE agent fired his gun into the air in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve.
Attorney Balderas-Ibarra said in a statement Friday that his clients “will forever be physically and emotionally scarred by this murder.”
He called for their release from the detention centre, saying he was concerned they would be pressured to sign documents consenting to their removal from the country.
“We know that ICE has a habit of deporting immigrants without being prosecuted, without legal action being taken against them,” he said.
Harris County District Attorney. Sean Teare said his office is investigating the incident. He said his investigators were denied access to the scene by federal authorities on Tuesday, but were later granted access to the site.
“When someone in our community loses their life at the hands of law enforcement, that is the ultimate breach of trust,” he said. “And if we’re not transparent, if people don’t believe that we’re actively investigating and holding ourselves accountable to law enforcement, we’re going to lose that trust very quickly. And that’s what you’re seeing right now.”
Times staff writer Kate Linthicum in Mexico City and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
