An undocumented immigrant was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston during an attempted arrest, according to investigators, in a shooting that is now under federal investigation.
The shooting happened this morning on Canal Street near Wayside, in Houston's East End, an area of homes and businesses. Officials said the scene had since cleared.
According to ICE officials, an ICE agent shot and killed the man, described as a migrant from Mexico, who they say allegedly tried to run the agent over in the street during the encounter.
Officials, who identified the man by the first name Lorenzo, say he ignored multiple verbal commands and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE officer, and that the officer then fired his weapon in what officials described as self-defense. Lorenzo was hit and, after emergency services were called, was taken to a hospital where he later died of his injuries.
The shooting has drawn reaction from local leaders, including a Houston council member who said it was deeply concerning to see such an action in the city, adding that while people had read about similar incidents elsewhere, it was troubling to see one happen in their own backyard.
The FBI is now investigating the shooting, a standard step in cases involving the use of deadly force by federal agents, as authorities work to establish exactly what took place.
A cell phone video of the aftermath, received from a viewer, offered a glimpse of the scene, though many details of the encounter remained unclear in the hours after it unfolded.
Authorities had not released the identity of the man who was killed as the investigation continued into the circumstances of the deadly encounter.
The family has identified the man who was killed as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. According to his son, he had lived in the United States for close to 35 years and had no criminal convictions, a portrait that stands sharply at odds with the enforcement encounter authorities have described.
His son said Lorenzo Salgado Araujo had been driving a work crew to a job in Houston's East End when the encounter with ICE took place. The family said he had been working toward legal status through a work permit, insisting they had filled out every document and attended every appointment, and that he was close to obtaining it. All three of his sons, the family said, are United States citizens who were raised on the value of education.
The family also described learning of his death from a news report on social media rather than from the hospital or from law enforcement, saying they had gone to the hospital demanding answers. In the days since, a large demonstration has unfolded in Houston's East End near where the shooting happened, as community members and elected officials called for transparency and accountability.
The footage at the center of the case does not tell the whole story, officials cautioned. The cell phone video that circulated was recorded on Canal Street sometime between about 6:40 and 7 a.m., but it does not capture the entire encounter, and the FBI, which is leading the investigation, has said it is still working to determine exactly what happened in the moments before shots were fired.
The case has since drawn scrutiny from more than one agency. While the FBI investigates the alleged attack on the officer, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General is also looking into the fatal shooting. ICE has maintained that the officer fired in self-defense after the man allegedly disobeyed commands, weaponized an agency vehicle and tried to run over an officer during what it called a targeted enforcement operation.
That account has not satisfied local officials and advocates, who are pushing for outside scrutiny. Activists and lawmakers have called for the Texas Rangers and the Harris County District Attorney to launch independent investigations. In a statement, the Harris County District Attorney's office said that while access to key evidence remained under federal control, it was pursuing the investigative avenues available to it and would conduct a review of any information it collected within its reach. Investigators have also appealed for any surveillance video or photos from the day of the shooting that could offer a clearer picture of what happened.
The response has continued to grow both in the streets and at City Hall. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said he was monitoring the situation and pressing for a transparent, independent investigation, while cautioning against efforts to politicize the case. Houston police, for their part, have indicated that their hands are legally tied by federal supremacy, limiting what the local department can do in a case under federal control. Demonstrators, meanwhile, held a candlelight vigil at a nearby mural, leaving candles, stuffed animals and notes, and hundreds gathered to call for an end to local ICE operations, while the advocacy group LULAC announced a $5,000 reward for information or video footage related to the shooting.
The case has also begun to reverberate internationally. Mexico is now considering legal action against the United States over the shooting, with the country's president saying her government cannot allow the mistreatment of Mexican citizens in the United States and that it is preparing legal measures. As of the latest reports, President Trump had not yet publicly responded to that call. Closer to home, a GoFundMe page set up for the family had raised more than $190,000.
New questions emerged after Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia conducted a fact-finding call with the chief of ICE. Garcia said she was told there is no body-camera video of the fatal encounter because the agents involved were not wearing the cameras, meaning Houstonians hoping to see footage of the shooting will be disappointed. She also reported that neither Salgado nor his brother had been the actual target of the operation, which she said was instead aimed at one of the passengers in their van, a person subject to an administrative warrant.
Garcia, who represents the area, pressed for answers on behalf of the family and the community, noting that the man had no criminal history and asking pointedly whether the public was truly any safer because he had died, and why he had been targeted and stopped at all. She said she remained unwilling to simply accept the enforcement account of events. Garcia added that she had been assured by ICE officials that the other passengers from the van, described as material witnesses to the shooting, would not be moved from where they are currently being held at a facility in Conroe.
The Department of Homeland Security, for its part, has now offered its first account of how agents came to stop that particular van. A DHS official said officers had been conducting surveillance at a target's address after receiving what they described as a credible tip from law enforcement partners, and had previously observed two white vans at that location. On Tuesday morning, the official said, agents saw a white van carrying someone who resembled the target and moved in for the traffic stop that turned deadly. DHS has not clarified whether Salgado Araujo himself was the intended target or whether agents were trying to apprehend someone else riding in the van.