Teare’s announcement comes less than 24 hours after a second witness, Daniel Tirado Pantoja, was released from federal custody. The investigation into Salgado’s fatal shooting July 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has entered “a tipping point,” Teare said in an appearance on Hello Houston.
“Physically, when you’re talking the evidence from before it occurred and what happened that day, I think we’ve gotten just about all we’re going to get,” Teare said. “There are still pieces of evidence we need from the federal government that we are waiting on. But we are much more moving into the evaluation phase and determining what, if any, charge we’re going to present to a grand jury.”
Officials with Teare’s office declined to provide a more precise timeline in the case.
Two witnesses in the van the day Salgado was fatally shot in Magnolia Park have been released from federal custody, but Teare said a third was still fighting his detention in court as of Thursday.
Local prosecutors have interviewed all three of the men at some point in federal custody, Teare said.
The lack of evidence of the shooting itself suggests ICE has changed its tactics, Teare said, and is moving toward more surreptitious enforcement.
“The agency has adapted from Minnesota and now you’re doing these operations at 7 a.m. on a side street,” he said.
The name of the ICE agent who killed Salgado has not been released.