US officials have confirmed that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, was fatally shot by immigration agents during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that the man was not the intended target of their enforcement operation.
The incident occurred at approximately 07:00 local time (12:00 GMT) while Salgado was driving three co-workers to a job site. According to his family, Salgado had been working as a builder in the Houston area for three decades after arriving in the US as an undocumented migrant. His relatives maintained that he had no criminal record and was near the point of obtaining a work permit.
In a statement released on Thursday, the DHS explained that the traffic stop was initiated after agents spotted a white van containing an individual who resembled their target. Agents had been monitoring an address for weeks and had previously observed two white vans at that location. When they encountered the vehicle on Tuesday, they moved to conduct a stop as part of a targeted operation to arrest an undocumented individual.
DHS officials previously alleged in a Tuesday statement that Salgado attempted to evade arrest and rammed an ICE vehicle, prompting an officer to fire his weapon in self-defence. Salgado was transported to a hospital following the shooting, where he later died from his injuries. A spokesperson for the DHS noted to CBS News that half of the agency’s field officers are currently equipped with body cameras, with the remaining half expected to be outfitted within the next 60 days. The BBC has contacted DHS for comment.
