Lawyer says ICE account of fatal Texas shooting ‘completely false’
Family Attorney Challenges ICE's Version of Fatal Texas Shooting
Lawyer says ICE account of fatal - The legal representative for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Houston resident who lost his life at the hands of immigration enforcement officers, has firmly rejected the official narrative provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, the agency's description of events surrounding the deadly encounter is entirely inaccurate.
Following conversations with three individuals who were riding in the van alongside Salgado Araujo during the incident on Tuesday, Balderas-Ibarra noted that each witness directly contradicted the version of events presented by ICE. The federal agency had claimed that the driver attempted to employ his vehicle as an instrument of force against officers.
Witness Testimony Contradicts Official Account
After consulting with the three men present in the vehicle, the attorney expressed complete confidence in their recollections. In a video message shared on Instagram on Friday, Balderas-Ibarra stated:
After speaking with these three men that were in the vehicle with Lorenzo, I have no doubt that what these ICE agents are saying is completely false. At no point did they ever use the van to ram into the ICE agents, and at no point were these ICE agents' lives ever in any danger.
The legal representative further emphasized the inconsistencies between the official story and witness accounts. He called for a thorough, independent examination of the circumstances to ensure proper accountability.
We are demanding an independent investigation so that we can get them the justice and the answers that they deserve. The ICE agents' accounts of what happened do not reflect, and are very inconsistent with the stories — with the recollection that I got from the three people that were in the vehicle with Lorenzo.
Details of the Shooting and Aftermath
Salgado Araujo sustained a gunshot wound to his abdomen from ICE officers during the confrontation. He was transported to a nearby medical facility where he subsequently passed away. According to Balderas-Ibarra, immediately after being struck by the bullet, Salgado Araujo cried out "Ya me mataron," which translates to "They killed me."
The Department of Homeland Security has not yet provided an official response to the attorney's claims. However, the agency has consistently maintained that Salgado Araujo made an effort to injure its personnel during the encounter.
The driver of the vehicle, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo—an illegal alien from Mexico—attempted to evade arrest. From information we are receiving, he rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense.
Alternative Narrative from Coworkers
The three colleagues who were with Salgado Araujo at the time of the incident provided a different perspective to the attorney. According to accounts initially shared with The Washington Post, the men—who are currently being held in detention facilities—described being approached from the side rather than the front or rear.
The coworkers stated that ICE officers, traveling in unmarked vehicles, were the ones who initially made contact with their slowly moving van before positioning themselves on each side of the vehicle. Jose Trinidad Rojas, one of the men, issued a written statement to the outlet:
That is a lie. It is impossible for them to say that they were going to get run over … there were no officers in front of or behind the vehicle. They were on the sides.
The Hill has contacted Balderas-Ibarra's legal office to obtain the complete witness statements for further verification.
Broader Context and Political Response
The Department of Homeland Security has faced repeated criticism for characterizing individuals shot by ICE as aggressive, only for video footage to later disprove those assertions. In a similar case, ICE claimed that Renee Good, a Minnesota woman monitoring immigration operations, had directed her vehicle toward officers. She, too, was shot from the side.
Additional revelations have shown that Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had resided in the United States for three and a half decades, was not the primary subject of the immigration action. The New York Times reported on Thursday that federal officers were actually searching for a different individual, a citizen of Guatemala.
Representative Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat from Texas, addressed the situation during an appearance on MS NOW. She noted that ICE had confirmed to her that Salgado Araujo was not the intended target of the operation.
They're saying he weaponized the car, that he refused orders, that he was going to run over them and that they shot him in self-defense.
Garcia also questioned the circumstances of the shooting, asking how Salgado Araujo could have been shot in the right side of his stomach if he was the driver attempting to flee.
Salgado Araujo's children, who are U.S. citizens, have publicly demanded clarity regarding their father's death. Ronaldo Araujo informed news organizations that he discovered his father's passing through media coverage and has yet to receive any communication from ICE officials.
He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE. He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream.