Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot during a traffic stop in a case of mistaken identity. Witnesses dispute ICE's account of the shooting. Now the FBI says drugs may have been in Salgado Araujo's vanShow Caption
The FBI is investigating whether drugs were inside a cargo van after immigration officers fatally shot a 52-year-old Mexican national during a traffic stop in Houston, according to a sealed search warrant obtained by USA TODAY.The July 14 warrant application, submitted by FBI Special Agent David McNeilly, was to search the white Ford van following the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on the morning of July 7, when his family and coworkers said he was on the way to work.The Department of Homeland Security has said that they targeted Salgado Araujo for a traffic stop after mistaking him for someone else, not for anything that he had in his vehicle."The United States is currently gathering all facts related to this incident, including what may have caused the occupants of the vehicle to flee," McNeilly's said in the warrant application. The application is supposed to be sealed but remained available for USA TODAY's viewing.Federal Magistrate Judge Richard Bennett of Texas granted the search warrant the same day McNeilly filed the application, which appeared in the federal case docket on July 15. Bennett didn't indicate the application had to be unsealed, according to court records.A spokesperson for the FBI's field office in Houston referred questions about the search warrant to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas, which told USA TODAY that it does not "have anything additional to provide at this time."The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. ICE, however, referred USA TODAY to a statement issued last week and did not answer specific questions about the search warrant or the circumstances surrounding the shooting.ICE said the shooting remains under investigation by the DHS's Office of Inspector General.USA TODAY reached out to attorneys representing the three men who were in the van during the shooting. The men have all been detained.During the traffic stop that precipitated the shooting, federal officials have said that Salgado Araujo "weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over" an officer. The men in the van with Salgado Araujo have disputed that account, saying that he never posed a threat to anyone and that an ICE officer fired upon Salgado Araujo from the side of the vehicle.ICE officers were not wearing body cameras despite promises from federal officials earlier this year that the agency would be fully equipped with them and $20 million in funding for the technology.After the shooting, McNeilly said in the warrant application that he arrived at the scene and saw "in plain view" several small plastic bags with a "white crystal-like substance" − three in the middle of the dash and one on the passenger floorboard. McNeilly, who identified himself in the application as a former Houston police officer, said he believed the contents of the bags were consistent with methamphetamine.It’s unclear if the substance has been tested.The FBI’s Evidence Response Team arrived on scene and took photos of the van's interior, which were made available in court records. But McNeilly's application said law enforcement hadn’t yet entered or searched the vehicle. In his application to the court to search the van, McNeilly said evidence of the small baggies meant there was "probable cause" that federal crimes had been violated.Houston officials have asked for evidence related to Salgado Araujo’s shooting to be shared. Houston Mayor John Whitmore has called for an independent investigation, saying the FBI has evidence local police would normally use to investigate similar shootings but that the agency wasn't sharing materials.
