Houston ICE shooting kills Mexican immigrant, not target

A Mexican immigrant was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Houston on July 7 after a vehicle stop that federal officials now say targeted a different individual. The death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 55-year-old construction business owner who had lived in the United States for more than 35 years, has prompted conflicting accounts of the incident, an international diplomatic response, and calls for an independent investigation.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE agents had been conducting surveillance on an address associated with two other individuals after receiving a tip from law enforcement partners. On July 7, as officers neared that address, they observed a white van driven by a man who resembled their target and initiated a traffic stop. DHS later confirmed Salgado Araujo was not the person they were seeking. Officials stated that before the stop, agents learned the registered owner of the vehicle did not have legal immigration status.

DHS has said that during the stop on Canal Street in the Magnolia Park neighborhood, Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and used his van as a weapon in an attempt to run over an agent,...