ICE Agent Shot Driver After Van Reversed and Moved Forward During Houston Traffic Stop

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national and construction worker, in the stomach during a traffic stop in Houston on July 7, The Independent reported. Federal investigators obtained a warrant to search Salgado Araujo’s van after describing plastic bags of a “white crystal-like substance” that could be methamphetamine.

U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz stated that agents were pursuing a different suspect when they first tried to stop the white van, which fled by making a rapid U-turn over a median. Agents located the vehicle later that morning, surrounded it, and approached after ordering the driver to park.

Reitz said the driver shifted the van into reverse and then forward while an officer stood next to or partially inside the vehicle, prompting one agent to fire a single shot.

Two passengers told a local congresswoman that the officers never identified themselves as law enforcement and that the shot came through the front passenger window. Family attorney Ruby L. Powers said the substance was a homemade electrolyte mix of salt and lemon that Salgado Araujo and his brother prepared to stay hydrated while working in extreme Texas heat.

She expressed concern that the public release of the initially sealed warrant would prejudice opinion before toxicology results. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare stated that information gathered about the passengers made the presence of illegal drugs appear inconsistent.

The three surviving passengers remain in federal detention and have requested U visas to remain in the country while assisting the investigation.