Community members continue to leave flowers, candles, photographs and handwritten messages at a growing memorial near the site where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Houston, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. The memorial has become a gathering place for neighbors, family members and supporters in the week since the shooting.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
The new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday afternoon released a video statement about the shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in which he made new claims about what happened in the moments before the Houston migrant’s death.
In the statement, U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz said immigration agents surrounded Salgado’s work van on Canal Street and that an agent was “partially inside the van or immediately next to the van” when Salgado shifted the van into reverse, then forward again.
The immigration agent fired a single shot that hit Salgado, fatally wounding him, Reitz said.
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MORE ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Mourners gather for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo as family seeks answers in fatal ICE shooting
Reitz said his office was not “drawing any final conclusions” about what happened in the encounter, which has sparked an outpouring of protests in Houston over the past week as well as calls for an independent investigation.
“Let the justice system work,” he said.
Reitz’s statement was posted on social media at about 5:15 p.m., around the same time that mourners were starting to gather at a visitation service for Salgado in the East End. A funeral service is planned for Friday.
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It is the first public statement made by Reitz since he was appointed as the U.S. Attorney for Houston and the surrounding area. Reitz was named to the position last week and was made the district’s top law enforcement official by a vote of district judges this week.
The statement does not explicitly describe what Salgado did as an attack or assault of the officer. He didn’t say if an officer was injured or name the officer who fired his weapon. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a Department of Homeland Security statement accused Salgado of “weaponizing” the van and trying to ram officers.
While parts of the chase and final confrontation were caught on security cameras from buildings along the chase route, no video has emerged of the actual moment that Salgado was shot. DHS officials last week told Democratic lawmakers that the ICE agents who were pursuing Salgado were not equipped with body cameras and that their vehicles didn’t have dash cameras
Aaron Reitz was named the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas on Tursday, July 9, 2026.
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Reitz’s statement also described new details of the start of the chase.
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Reitz said the agents were looking for a pair of Guatemalan men who were known to be in a white van and who had previously evaded arrest. The agents saw a similar van — apparently Salgado’s — and attempted to pull it over.
At that point, Reitz said, Salgado’s van made a “rapid U-turn” and hopped a median to get away. The agents at that point didn’t pursue, he said.
But Reitz said the agents located the van again later that morning. The van drove off again, but agents were able to stop and surround it, leading to the fatal encounter with Salgado.
The statement doesn’t provide specific times or exact locations for the U-turn or the first encounter that occurred. A warrant affidavit filed by Reitz’s office on Tuesday also described the U-turn and the van hopping a median, without providing details. Salgado’s family said he left his home around 5:50 a.m. The shooting happened around 6:45 a.m.
An account of the chase provided to the Washington Post on July 10 by a lawyer for men in the van also described a U-turn and a moment when Salgado said that he believed he had gotten away from the agents. In that account, the men said Salgado turned after he was cut off by an unfamiliar vehicle.
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The Chronicle has not independently confirmed that account of events.
No videos that have emerged publicly have shown a U-turn. On Wednesday, Houston TV station KHOU published a video showing agents apparently following Salgado from north of Navigation Boulevard, about two-tenths of a mile from where he was shot.
Reitz also acknowledged that FBI agents on Thursday executed a search warrant on the van and are investigating baggies that were seen on the vehicle’s dashboard and floorboard. In the warrant affidavit, an agent wrote that they believed the substance might be methamphetamine. On Thursday, lawyers for the men who were with Salgado said the material was salt.
Officials have previously said that the shooting is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. Reitz’s statement said the shooting was being looked into by his office, the FBI, DHS and “other state and local partners.”
A spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office declined to discuss Reitz’s statement.
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“This office isn’t commenting on this narrative and we certainly won’t be discussing facts of a pending case,” Courtney Fischer said in a statement. Earlier Thursday, District Attorney Sean Teare said he was doubtful about some of the assertions made in the warrant affidavit.
Reitz previously worked for the Trump administration; he was also an aide for Ken Paxton and Ted Cruz. Earlier this year, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for Texas Attorney General.
“This assessment is based on preliminary information given to my office,” Reitz said. “We draw no decisive conclusions and believe federal law enforcement will conduct a thorough investigation.”
“We are doing everything we can to seek the truth and do the right thing.”