During an interview with CNN on Thursday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said there is evidence that calls into question the FBI’s assertion that “crystal-like substances packaged in small clear plastic bags” were narcotics but is currently being examined by authorities.
“Based on the information we have regarding who Mr. Salgado was, and just eyeballing the evidence as it was collected yesterday, we don’t believe that they are drugs,” Teare said. “My understanding is that this substance is being tested by the FBI, either today or in the next few days, and I think it’s so important to the public that those results be shared immediately.”
Regardless of whether drugs were present, Teare said, it would not justify Salgado’s shooting.
“It doesn’t matter whether or not there were drugs,” he said frankly. “It has no bearing on why Mr. Salgado and the other three individuals (in the van during an attempted traffic stop) were targeted. It has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not the use of force that killed Mr. Salgado was justified.”
The comments come a day after the FBI filed a publicly available search warrant looking into packaging found inside the “target vehicle” which bore the appearance “consistent with how users of drugs package controlled substances for distribution, manufacturing, and possession.”
“To unseal this warrant is really something that I think the U.S. attorney and the FBI need to explain to the public, because this is not something that typically happens,” Teare noted.
In its initial statement following the July 7 shooting, ICE said an agent fired in self-defense after Salgado allegedly attempted to use his van as a weapon.
“We have yet to be in contact with the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, who is apparently conducting the shooting investigation,” he said. “We have not heard anything about the identity of the agent that shot Mr. Salgado. And, quite frankly, we haven’t even heard whether or not the person has given a statement to any law enforcement about the shooting. And we’re nine days in. That’s just — it’s so grossly incompetent and unacceptable.”
“I trust the men and women of the FBI Houston office implicitly,” he noted. “I do understand unequivocally that they have bosses in Washington, D.C…. I do not trust the people in Washington, D.C., and the people that are directing this investigation to do it competently or honestly, which is why we started our own investigation the day of the shooting.”