HOUSTON — Three men who were present when a U.S. immigration agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on Tuesday are contradicting the account given by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the attorney representing two of them.
The three witnesses, one of whom is Salgado’s brother, are currently being held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. All of them were riding in Salgado’s white van on their way to work Tuesday morning when ICE officers pulled the vehicle over. Their attorney, Hugo Baldero-Ybera, told reporters at a Friday press conference that his clients have given him a “completely different” version of events from what the agency has described.
Baldero-Ybera called for the men’s immediate release, saying it was necessary to “ensure the integrity” of the ongoing investigation. He also voiced concern that federal authorities might pressure the witnesses into signing documents that would allow them to be deported.
The killing set off demonstrations in Houston’s predominantly Hispanic East End neighborhood. More than 1,000 people marched peacefully through the area on Wednesday, and residents have gathered at the scene to leave flowers and candles in Salgado’s memory.
Shortly after Tuesday’s incident, ICE released a statement saying Salgado — a Mexican national who had been living in the United States without legal status for more than 30 years — used his van to ram a law enforcement vehicle and tried to run over one of the officers, who then fired in self-defense. The agency has not released any evidence to back up that version of events.
Baldero-Ybera offered a starkly different picture based on what his clients told him. “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 said, summarizing their accounts. He added that the men also told him the fatal shots came from the side of the van, not the front.
ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had not responded to requests for comment as of the time of reporting.
A DHS official also told reporters Friday that Salgado was not even the intended target of the ICE operation. Weeks earlier, agents conducting surveillance had spotted two white vans at the property of the person they were actually looking for. On Tuesday morning, as agents were heading back to that location, they spotted a white van with someone who “resembled the target” and initiated the traffic stop.
“His only crime was he fit the description of another man they were looking for,” Baldero-Ybera said.
Salgado was a father of three and a construction worker who had lived in Houston for 35 years. Relatives said Wednesday that he had been in the process of obtaining a work permit at the time of his death. Family members, community activists, and members of Congress have all called for an independent investigation into the shooting.
The full sequence of events surrounding the fatal encounter has not yet been established. Surveillance footage first reported by local CBS affiliate KHOU11 shows an unmarked ICE vehicle appearing to cut off Salgado’s van in traffic before the van pulls to the side of the road. Additional verified videos from the aftermath show agents standing over a man clutching his chest, and in another clip, a man can be heard crying out in pain. No video capturing the actual moment of the shooting has surfaced.
The Trump administration moved last year to scale back a pilot program that would have equipped ICE officers with body cameras, urging Congress to slash funding for the effort by 75%, according to a January Reuters report. DHS confirmed Thursday that none of the agents involved in Tuesday’s incident were wearing body cameras. Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia said at Friday’s press conference that there were also no dashboard cameras in the ICE vehicles that would have recorded the shooting, and that no clear timeline has been set for the investigation, which ICE said will be led by DHS.
The Harris County District Attorney has asked the public to submit any videos, photos, or firsthand accounts related to the incident, while making clear that federal authorities are in charge of all aspects of the case.
