Francisco Mendoza, 57, and his grandson, Felix Torres, 12, hold posters during a news conference concerning a lawsuit filed by Erick Ruiz Lopez outside Houston Police Department headquarters in downtown Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
An ICE agent makes an arrest following a traffic stop made by a Department of Public Safety officer in Mustang Ridge, outside Austin, Thursday, April 16, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
A man called Houston police to report someone firing a gun outside a Home Depot on Sunday but was arrested by federal immigration agents before officers could complete their investigation, according to a police report.
The incident comes as the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have spurred weeks of protests across Houston following the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Magnolia Park last month and amid ongoing debate over how the Houston Police Department should interact with the federal agency.
READ MORE: Houston investigating claim police held man for ICE during 2-hour traffic stop
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It was unclear what led to the caller’s arrest, but the police report states: “HPD did not assist ICE.”
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the case is an example of what he’s been warning about for months – ICE tactics are damaging public safety.
“When you have reportees and witnesses getting detained and arrested while cooperating with law enforcement, that’s inherently going to negatively impact witnesses and victim cooperation,” he said. “It’s making people less safe.”
Since President Donald Trump embarked on an immigration crackdown last year, Teare has said witnesses have disappeared or been unwilling to testify in court, making it more difficult to prosecute serious crimes, from homicide to aggravated sexual assault of a child.
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Officials with HPD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the Home Depot gunfire case.
Late Tuesday, ICE officials in a prepared statement said the witness was Juan Francisco Monroy Turuy, 54, a Guatemalan citizen who had been “convicted of a criminal offense” the agency did not name. Agents let him provide a statement to HPD identifying the suspect before he was taken into custody, the statement said.
As of Tuesday, Monroy remained at a processing facility in Montgomery County, according to the statement.
Witnesses to crimes who are in ICE custody still can be removed from the country, the statement said, though HPD could file paperwork asking that he remain in the country.
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The incident happened around 9:30 a.m. Sunday in the 10000 block of Bellaire Boulevard, according to the police report. Monroy called police and said someone wearing all black had fired a pistol multiple times.
Officers arrived and spoke to Monroy, who described the man firing the gun and pointed them to casings on the ground, according to the report.
Officers searched the area and arrested David Elias Mendez, 24, in connection with the incident.
When officers returned to the scene, they saw several men running through the parking lot, and found ICE agents had arrested Monroy, according to the report.
While Monroy was in ICE custody, officers presented Mendez to him and he said Mendez was the man he had seen firing the gun, according to the report.
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Mendez was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, court records show. He has a lengthy criminal history in Harris County, including one charge filed just two days prior to Sunday’s incident, for terroristic threat with fear of significant bodily injury. As of Tuesday, he did not have a listed defense attorney.
Council Member Tiffany Thomas, whose District F includes the area where Sunday’s incident happened, said ICE’s actions are undercutting local law enforcement’s relationship with the community.
“We did a good job of getting immigrants to call law enforcement when they saw something,” she said. “But now, when you’re calling, they’re rounding you up.”