ICE agent fatally shoots motorist in Houston vehicle stop, agency says
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a motorist in Houston on Tuesday while officers were trying to stop the man’s vehicle, the agency said in a statement, in the midst of an escalating federal crackdown on migrants.
The man shot to death was identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, described by ICE as a Mexican national and “illegal alien” who attempted to evade arrest during a “targeted enforcement operation” by federal immigration officers.
Ronaldo Salgado, who identified himself as the son of the slain motorist, told the Spanish-language television station Telemundo Houston that his father was shot while he was seeking workers for hire in the area.
According to the ICE account of the incident, Salgado “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.” The confrontation resulted in “our officer firing his weapon in self-defense,” striking the driver, who was transported to a hospital where he died of his injuries, ICE said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the man’s immigration status or the circumstances of the shooting.
Video footage captured by a surveillance camera from a nearby business and reviewed by Reuters showed a person lying on the ground beside a white van and surrounded by officers, in what appeared to be the aftermath of the shooting.
Houston Fire Department spokesperson Rustin Rawlings said firefighters dispatched to the scene found a man who was shot in the abdomen undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation before he was taken to a hospital.
In several instances over the past year, initial statements from immigration enforcement agencies about their use of force have been challenged by video footage or other evidence, sometimes in court.
In October, a Chicago-area woman, Marimar Martinez, was accused of ramming law enforcement officers with her car. She was shot five times but survived. Charges against her were ultimately dropped and video evidence suggested that the agents could have struck her vehicle themselves.
Trump administration officials also said that two U.S. citizens shot dead by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis in January, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, had threatened bodily harm to the agents before they were killed, despite video evidence to the contrary. [Continue reading…]