New video footage from KHOU of the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agents in Houston, Texas, on July 7, contradicts the claims made by ICE, reports The New Republic:
ICE agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Texas on Tuesday morning. The agents stated that Salgado Araujo ignored verbal instructions and tried to ram their vehicle. Newly obtained footage puts a massive asterisk over those claims of self-defense.
Surveillance video footage obtained by local outlet KHOU 11 shows the agents using their unmarked black SUV in an attempt to box in Salgado Araujo—initiating the conflict. Salgado Araujo makes a U-turn and heads in the other direction, and the agents then turn around to follow him.
While the video did not capture the final moments of the shooting, separate footage showed no damage to the ICE vehicle, again weakening federal agents’ claim that Salgado Araujo tried to ram them.
This discrepancy between the agents’ statements and the video footage has led to widespread calls for an independent investigation into Salgado Araujo’s death. Complicating that is the fact that the Department of Homeland Security detained the three other immigrant men in the car with Salgado Araujo—one of whom is Salgado Araujo’s brother—and is pressuring them to self-deport, preventing them from serving as witnesses.
KTRK reports Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum will will pursue legal action against the U.S. over the killing:
“Our objective is to go beyond diplomatic notes and the measures we have already raised before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, because we cannot allow the mistreatment of our fellow Mexicans in the United States,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters Wednesday. “Unfortunately, there has been another death of a Mexican national in the United States for being detained, when that person’s only offense was lacking immigration documents, even though they had been hired by an American company.”
(Sources: KHOU, The New Republic, KTRK)