Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed after ICE agents said he tried evading arrest in East Houston during a “targeted enforcement” operation.
Daniel Tirado was one of the workers traveling in the van when Araujo was shot, his stepdaughter Monserrat Cardoso told the Houston Chronicle. She doesn’t believe ICE’s claims about why agents tried pulling over the van.
“They just saw a couple of Hispanic men going to work, so they decided to chase them down and follow them,” she said. “They were targeted because they’re Hispanic men.”
In a statement, federal officials said Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and an agent shot him in self defense.
“ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop as part of a targeted enforcement operation to arrest an illegal alien,” the agency said in a statement. The agency said Araujo refused to follow commands and tried to run over an ICE agent.
“We’re hoping more (video) footage comes out soon because it was not self-defense,” she said.
Cardoso said the only videos she’s seen on news outlets and social media show her stepdad restrained on the asphalt as Araujo bled from a gunshot wound on the 6800 block of Canal Street.
Her stepfather was able to make a brief phone call after his arrest, but the call was disconnected. Her family hadn’t heard from him since then, but wanted to urge him not to sign anything that could lead to his immediate removal from the U.S.
“We don’t know if they’re trying to make them self-deport, so they don’t have witnesses,” she said.
No prior criminal cases involving Araujo or Tirado are on file at the Harris County District Clerk’s office. Cardoso said she wasn’t aware of any past criminal violations involving him or her stepfather.
“What I know about (Lorenzo), he’s a really good man, a hard-working man,” she said.