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Houston shooting, drug claim
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot during a traffic stop by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston on July 7, and the FBI later sought a search warrant to look for drugs in the white Ford van after the shooting.
USA TODAY reported that the July 14 warrant application was submitted by FBI Special Agent David McNeilly and was to search the white Ford van following the fatal shooting, with the Department of Homeland Security saying it targeted Salgado Araujo after mistaking him for someone else.
The FBI’s warrant application said McNeilly arrived at the scene and saw "in plain view" several small plastic bags with a "white crystal-like substance," and McNeilly said he believed the contents were consistent with methamphetamine.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told CNN that he does not believe the substance is drugs, saying, "we don't believe that they are drugs," while the FBI continues testing the material.
Teare also argued that even if drugs were present, it would not justify the shooting, saying, "It doesn’t matter whether or not there were drugs."
Competing accounts and probes
Teare’s skepticism centered on the FBI’s drug narrative, which the Harris County DA said is being examined even as he insisted it has no bearing on whether the use of force was justified.
In a CNN appearance, Teare said, "It has no bearing on why Mr. Salgado and the other three individuals" were targeted, and he pressed for immediate sharing of test results.
USA TODAY reported that the search warrant remained available for its viewing and that Federal Magistrate Judge Richard Bennett of Texas granted the warrant the same day McNeilly filed the application.
CBS News reported that Teare told it his office is "more than prepared" to prosecute ICE agents if it finds criminal wrongdoing, adding that local investigators have issued "dozens" of subpoenas.
CBS News also said Teare noted ICE had not provided his office with support or information to aid the probe, including that he said his office had "not received a single name of an ICE agent" involved in the shooting.
Witnesses, U visas, next steps
While the FBI investigates whether drugs were in the van, multiple outlets described how the three men in the vehicle became central to the case and to efforts to prevent deportation.
Houston Public Media reported that Ruby Powers, attorney for Victor Salgado Araujo, said her understanding was that the substance was "granulated salt" and that "no test result, whatever it ultimately shows, will change the fact that deadly force was used" against Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare’s office certified the three men as material witnesses, with Teare saying it was "one of the first steps in the process to force the federal government to keep them here" while the case is pending.
EL PAÍS identified the three passengers as José Trinidad Rojas, 51; Daniel Tirado Pantoja, 43; and Víctor Salgado, 44, and said their testimony is crucial even though ICE agents were not the intended target of the operation.
CBS News reported that Teare said his office filed paperwork to help the witnesses get visas so they are not deported while the investigation unfolds, and Teare said, "They're the three eyewitnesses to this shooting."
