Substance in Houston ICE shooting van was not drugs, district attorney’s office says testing confirms
By Elise Hammond, Ed Lavandera, Ashley Killough, CNN
(CNN) — The substance collected from the van that was driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo when he was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Houston this month was not drugs, according to a spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office who said their office had been notified of the results.
This comes after the FBI filed a warrant application saying the agency had cause to believe an investigator found illegal drugs in the vehicle after the July 7 shooting that killed the 52-year-old Mexican immigrant and longtime Texas resident.
When reached for comment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said they did not have additional information to provide.
The FBI declined to comment when contacted by CNN.
The FBI’s suspicion about drugs became public in mid-July after a court unsealed the warrant application. That drew pushback from Salgado Araujo’s family, whose lawyer said she believed the substance was salt, used to make a homemade electrolyte mix.
The application’s unsealing also was criticized by the district attorney of Texas’ Harris County, who told CNN the substance’s nature should have no bearing on investigations into whether the killing was justified, or whether the stop was warranted. Federal authorities have not indicated that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who stopped the van thought that drugs were inside when the stop happened.
Federal authorities’ account of the fatal shooting — that ICE agents tried to stop a van containing Salgado Araujo and three passengers during an immigration enforcement operation, and an agent fired in self-defense as Salgado Araujo maneuvered the vehicle — has faced scrutiny. The officers involved were not wearing body-worn cameras.
Salgado Araujo was one of two people fatally shot this month by ICE officers during attempted vehicle stops. The shootings in Houston and Maine reignited debate about ICE tactics.
An attorney for Salgado Arajuo’s brother, Victor Salgado Araujo, said Friday “an unproven claim was allowed to circulate before it was tested, and the way it was made public did real damage, diverting attention from what actually matters in this case.”
His brother who witnessed the shooting remains in ICE custody, said attorney Ruby Powers, who is calling for his release so he can “participate fully in the investigation, and for an independent investigation into how Lorenzo died.”
Texas Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia said an attempt to “cast a shadow over Lorenzo Salgado’s name has failed,” in her response to learning of the test results.
“As his family has said all along, this was an electrolyte powder to stay hydrated working outside in the hot Texas summer,” Garcia said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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