Federal Agents Fatally Shot Man After Mistakenly Believing He Was Transporting Suspect: Report

Federal immigration agents who fatally shot a Houston man during a traffic stop this week were reportedly trying to apprehend someone else, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Per the report, agents believed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was driving a white van carrying one of two Guatemalan nationals they were investigating. But the suspected target was actually not inside the vehicle.

The encounter unfolded Tuesday morning after federal agents attempted to stop Araujo’s van. The situation quickly escalated, and an agent shot Araujo in the abdomen. He later died at a hospital.

The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that Araujo tried to use the van as a weapon against officers before the shooting. However, the Times reported that no publicly available video or other evidence has emerged to corroborate that claim.

A DHS spokeswoman told the newspaper that agents had previously conducted surveillance at an address connected to one of the investigation’s targets, where they had observed two white vans. When agents returned on Tuesday, they spotted what they believed was one of those vehicles with “an individual who resembled the target” and initiated the stop.

The Times also reported that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras. DHS’s inspector general is investigating the shooting, while the FBI’s Houston field office said it is examining what authorities have described as an assault on a federal law enforcement officer.

On Thursday, Araujo’s son, Ronaldo Salgado, joined CNN’s Erin Burnett on OutFront to emphasize that his father “was also in the process of obtaining a work permit” and that he knows his “dad would have stopped had ICE agents formally and clearly identified themselves.”

Juan Proaño, League of United Latin American Citizens CEO and a fellow CNN guest, also made clear on Thursday that despite ICE having successfully identified Araujo on-scene after the shooting, he was still checked into the hospital as “John Doe,” and his family has not yet been reunited with his body.

Additionally, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday about Araujo’s case, “We made the decision — obviously, we will maintain diplomatic relations — to file a formal complaint with both state and federal prosecutors in the United States against whoever is found responsible for what we consider to be homicides or, in other cases, for human rights violations.”

Watch Ronaldo Salgado’s interview above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!