Harris County DA opens probe into fatal ICE shooting in Houston

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a longtime Houston resident originally from Mexico, in Houston’s East End on July 7, and Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said his office is running its own investigation into the shooting. Teare said the conduct of federal immigration agents “in no way resemble” the tactics used by “every law enforcement agency” he has worked for.

Teare said his office was not invited into the federal probe and does not have the same level of access it usually gets in an officer-involved shooting. County investigators will look for possible state crimes, including murder, manslaughter and tampering with evidence. “If someone committed that crime, you don't get to hide behind a badge,” Teare said. He also called the lack of federal transparency “unacceptable” and warned that federal agencies control access to key evidence.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General is leading the federal investigation, while the FBI is separately examining whether a federal law-enforcement officer was assaulted during the encounter. DHS has declined to identify the agent who fired, citing violence and threats against ICE agents. The officers involved were not wearing body cameras, and no dashcam video has been identified. ICE said all field officers will have body cameras within 60 days.

The family and attorneys for two passengers detained in the van with Salgado Araujo dispute ICE’s account of the shooting. DHS said Salgado Araujo was not the intended target, that one person in the van “resembled the target,” and that he tried to evade arrest and rammed an ICE vehicle, prompting the agent to shoot in self-defense. The passengers’ attorney said no ICE agent was directly in front of their car and the shots came from the side. The passengers have remained in a detention facility outside Houston.

On July 13, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis said he would ask Commissioners Court to fund the district attorney’s independent investigation. Teare has also been consulting with Minnesota prosecutors who investigated the January 2026 shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, where state and federal authorities fought over access to evidence.