Competing accounts emerge over Houston ICE shooting
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a motorist in Houston on Tuesday during what the agency described as a “targeted enforcement operation.” The man killed was identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, described by ICE as a Mexican national and “illegal alien.”
Ronaldo Salgado, who identified himself as the son of the killed motorist, told the Spanish-language television station Telemundo Houston that his father was in the process of seeking workers for hire in the area when he was shot.
ICE provided a different account of the confrontation. The agency said Salgado “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.” An officer fired “in self-defense,” striking Salgado, who was transported to a hospital where he died of his injuries, according to ICE.
Reuters could not immediately verify the man’s immigration status or the circumstances of the shooting.
In several instances over the past year, initial statements from immigration enforcement agencies have been challenged by video footage or other evidence, sometimes in court. In October, a Chicago-area woman, Marimar Martinez, was accused of ramming law enforcement officers with her car. She was shot five times but survived. Charges against her were ultimately dropped and video evidence suggested that the agents could have struck her vehicle themselves.
Neither the FBI nor ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, immediately responded to requests for comment on Tuesday’s incident from Reuters.