HOUSTON — A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a man in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday while officers were trying to stop his vehicle, the agency said in a statement, in the midst of an escalating federal crackdown on migrants nationwide.
The man was identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, described by ICE as a Mexican national and "illegal alien" who attempted to evade arrest during a "targeted enforcement operation" by federal immigration officers.
Ronaldo Salgado, who identified himself as the son of the slain motorist, told the Spanish-language television station Telemundo Houston that his father was shot while he was seeking workers for hire in the area. Reuters could not immediately verify the man's immigration status or the circumstances of the shooting, which occurred shortly before 7 am.
According to the ICE account of the incident, Salgado "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".
The confrontation resulted in "our officer firing his weapon in self-defense", striking the driver, who was transported to a hospital where he died of his injuries, ICE said. Video recorded by an onlooker riding past the scene and posted online by KRIVTV, a Fox affiliate in Houston, showed two agents crouched over a man lying in the street on the driver's side of a white van. Two other men are seen on the ground in handcuffs on the other side of the van.
