Houston ICE Shooting: Substance in Van Was Not Meth, Prosecutor Says
Tests show the substance found in a Houston man's van after a fatal ICE shooting was not methamphetamine, contradicting initial claims.
A federal prosecutor has confirmed that a white, crystal-like substance found in the van of a Houston man fatally shot by immigration officers last month was not methamphetamine. U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz confirmed the negative test results in a statement, though he did not specify what the substance actually was.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was killed on July 7 when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in unmarked vehicles pursued his white work van through Houston streets and shot him through the window. He was driving his construction crew, including his brother, to a worksite at the time.
Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. without legal status for 35 years, ran a homebuilding business and had no prior criminal record. His family's attorney has said the substance was a homemade electrolyte mixture that Salgado Araujo and his crew used to stay hydrated in the summer heat.
The Department of Homeland Security initially stated that Salgado Araujo had "weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer," and that the officer fired in self-defense. The FBI later executed a search warrant on the van, citing small bags containing a substance that appeared to be methamphetamine.
However, two passengers in the van provided court statements saying the officers were never in danger of being run over, and were always positioned to the side of the vehicle. Reitz previously revealed that the ICE officers were targeting two Guatemalan men in a similar van who were potentially subject to deportation.
David Donatti, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas representing the Salgado family, said the search warrant was part of a government attempt to create a "false narrative." He stated that Salgado Araujo should still be alive and that the search proved the family's account: that he was a hardworking man whose wife packed him homemade electrolyte mixes for his crew.
"The Salgados deserve real answers about what happened to their father," Donatti said. The death is one of at least ten during immigration enforcement operations since the start of the mass deportation campaign, prompting protests in Houston and calls for an independent investigation.