Overview
Three men who were riding with Lorenzo Salgado Araujo when he was killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Houston have told attorneys a version of events that conflicts with the agency's public explanation, according to a lawyer representing two of the witnesses. The men, including Salgado’s brother, are being held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, while federal authorities investigate the encounter.
Witness accounts and legal concerns
Attorney Hugo Baldero-Ybera said at a press conference that his clients supplied him with a "completely different" description of what occurred on Tuesday morning. The three men had been traveling to work with Salgado in a white van when ICE officers stopped the vehicle, Baldero-Ybera said. He urged that the witnesses be released immediately to protect the integrity of the investigation and voiced apprehension that the government might seek to pressure them into signing paperwork that would lead to their deportation.
Baldero-Ybera summarized his clients’ accounts by saying that, contrary to the agency’s claim, "at no point was there ever an agent directly in front of the vehicle, nor was an agent ever placed in the line of danger." He further said the men told him the fatal shots appeared to have been fired from the side of the van rather than from the front.
Agency statement and investigatory posture
Hours after the shooting, ICE issued a statement asserting that Salgado - a Mexican national who had lived in the United States for more than three decades without legal status - had rammed a law enforcement vehicle with his van and attempted to run over an officer. The statement said an officer then fired in self-defense. The agency has not provided evidence publicly to corroborate that description.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the differing witness descriptions and other details of the encounter.
Not the intended target, officials say
A Department of Homeland Security official told reporters that Salgado was not the target of the ICE operation that led to his death. According to that official, weeks earlier immigration agents conducting surveillance had observed two white vans at the property of the person who was the actual target. On the morning of the stop, while returning to that address, agents observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target and initiated the vehicle stop, the official said.
Baldero-Ybera characterized his client's position on that account by noting that Salgado’s "only crime was he fit the description of another man they were looking for."
Public reaction and calls for independent review
The shooting has touched off public demonstrations in Houston’s predominantly Hispanic East End. More than 1,000 people marched through the neighborhood in a peaceful protest the day after the incident, and residents have left flowers and candles at the location where the van was stopped.
Family members, local activists, and members of the U.S. Congress have called for an independent investigation into Salgado’s death. Relatives described Salgado as a father of three, a construction worker who had lived in Houston for 35 years, and someone who was in the process of obtaining a work permit.
Available video and evidentiary gaps
Surveillance footage made available by a local CBS affiliate appears to show an unmarked ICE vehicle cutting off Salgado’s van in traffic, followed by the van pulling over to the side of the road. Other verified videos from the scene show agents standing over a man clutching his chest and, in a separate clip, a person crying out in pain. To date, no video has been published that captures the precise moment the shots were fired.
Officials said none of the officers involved in the incident were wearing body cameras. Last year, the administration moved to slow-walk a pilot program designed to equip ICE officers with body-worn cameras and urged a substantial reduction in the program’s congressional funding. Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed that none of the officers in this incident were wearing body cameras. In addition, a Texas member of Congress, Sylvia Garcia, said there were no dashboard cameras in the ICE vehicles that captured the shooting.
Investigation management and public appeals
ICE has stated that the investigation will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, but the agency has not provided a clear public timeline for how long the review will take. The Harris County District Attorney has encouraged members of the public to come forward with any videos, photographs, or eyewitness accounts that might help clarify the incident, while also noting that federal authorities are overseeing all aspects of the case.
The facts presented in this report reflect the accounts and statements available from witnesses, family members, attorneys, agency statements, and verified video made public since the encounter. Where accounts differ, those differences are noted rather than reconciled.