DHS Says ICE Officer Shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston After Vehicle Ram, No Bodycam Footage

A federal immigration agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during what the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called an enforcement operation in Houston’s East End, with DHS confirming there is no body camera footage of the incident.

“'He did not deserve to die,' son of man fatally shot by ICE officer in Houston says This is the second ICE-involved shooting in less than a week”

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The shooting happened around 6:50 a.m. Tuesday in the 6800 block of Canal Street as agents attempted to arrest Salgado Araujo in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood, and DHS said the officer fired in self-defense after Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and attempted to run over an ICE agent.

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DHS said the officers involved had not yet received their body-worn cameras due to “back-to-back Democrat shutdowns,” and it said body cameras have been deployed to more than half of ICE field offices with the remaining offices set to receive them within 60 days.

The absence of body camera footage meant investigators would rely on witness statements, physical evidence and other available video, if any exists, to reconstruct what happened.

Federal authorities said the shooting remains under investigation, while Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare launched a parallel review and urged anyone who witnessed the shooting to contact investigators.

More than a thousand protesters marched on 8 July near the spot where an ICE officer fatally shot a man driving to work, echoing demands for an independent inquiry into Tuesday’s shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.

The BBC reported that CBSNews said Salgado Araujo had no criminal convictions, according to his family and a Texas congresswoman, while federal officials did not release video or images of the shooting or the damage to the vehicles.

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CNN reported a source with preliminary details saying Salgado Araujo was not the target of the immigration operation, and a Homeland Security official told CNN that officers were “almost at the target’s address” when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target.

CNN also said the DHS spokesperson told it the officers involved had not yet been issued body-worn cameras and that body cameras have been distributed to more than half of ICE’s field offices, with the rest to receive them in the next 60 days.

In a separate account, AP reported that Salgado Araujo’s family and a Texas congresswoman said he had no criminal convictions and that he was driving a crew to a homebuilding site when he was killed.

The shooting prompted calls for transparency and independent oversight, with Mayor John Whitmire and several Houston City Council members calling for a transparent federal investigation and the public release of the findings.

“Family demands an independent probe after ICE officer fatally shoots a man in Houston Family demands an independent probe after ICE officer fatally shoots a man in Houston HOUSTON (AP) — A Mexican national fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston had no criminal convictions during his decades living in the U”

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Click2Houston reported that community leaders, elected officials and the victim’s family demanded answers, and it said the victim’s family had also demanded the release of any available evidence and additional information surrounding the shooting.

AP quoted League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares saying the federal crackdown has created a country where officers think they can “shoot and explain later,” and it added that the league offered a $5,000 reward for information and videos from witnesses.

CNN reported that the DHS’ Office of the Inspector General is leading an investigation into the shooting and that the FBI’s Houston field office is investigating the alleged assault on a federal law enforcement officer.

In Austin, KUT reported that Caitlin Corkill said there was “an escalation of ICE presence in Austin and brutality of ICE, as seen in Houston recently,” while activists warned that ICE arrests were increasing in the area and urged local leaders to do more to protect residents.