<\/p>\n
Police close a section of Canal Street on Wednesday as demonstrators gather for a protest, march and candlelight vigil in honor of\u00a0Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Houston on July 7.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
In the days since a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a> in east Houston, community leaders, residents and officials from nearly every corner of the city have called for an independent investigation into the shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n They pointed out that ICE narratives in three separate Minnesota shootings in January were refuted by video footage. The ICE description of this case \u2014 that Salgado evaded arrest and tried to weaponize his car<\/a> against the agents \u2014 mirrors the initial descriptions of the killing of Ren\u00e9e Good, but no video evidence has emerged to support or refute the agency\u2019s claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n Local elected officials have joined calls for a thorough review but have been reluctant to publicly order investigations themselves. Mayor John Whitmire backed<\/a> a \u201cthorough, transparent and credible investigation … that should be coordinated with our local and federal partners.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Araujo\u2019s family deserves the truth, but \u201cfederal authorities continue exclusively handling all aspects in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n CALLS FOR PROBE: LULAC demands Houston police investigation into ICE shooting death<\/a><\/p>\n The result is that Houston police are not investigating Araujo\u2019s death at this time. Teare has instructed his office to quietly return to the scene of the shooting and collect evidence for its own probe. He told Salgado\u2019s son in a closed-door meeting Tuesday a local investigation would be difficult but impartial.<\/p>\n The calls for action and murky responses from local officials raised the question: Do local governments have the authority to investigate a federal official on their own? And if they do, what happens?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Legal experts, former police chiefs and former prosecutors all agree that Houston police and the Harris County District Attorney\u2019s Office unquestionably have the authority<\/a> to conduct their own investigation into Salgado\u2019s death. In past fatal shootings caused by federal officials, like one involving an FBI agent in 2018, Houston police conducted a parallel investigation and Harris County prosecutors made their own charging decisions.<\/p>\n These experts also said that it is exceedingly difficult to gather any productive information if federal authorities do not cooperate. That\u2019s because local officials have no ability to compel federal officials to appear in court, and they have no right to force them to hand over evidence collected at the scene.<\/p>\n “The state court doesn’t have the power to drag those people in the court \u2014 make them do anything \u2014 because they’re acting in their capacity as the federal government,” said Jules Johnson, a former Harris County civil rights prosecutor who worked on the\u00a0case involving the FBI official. “You can issue a subpoena, and they never even have to respond to it \u2014 they just ball it up and throw it away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n FAMILY ACCOUNT: Stepdaughter of man arrested by ICE alleges racial profiling before fatal Houston shooting<\/a><\/p>\n Officials in Minnesota, where high-profile ICE killings earlier this year led to nationwide protests, are encountering that obstacle right now. The state of Minnesota and Hennepin County are conducting their own investigations into the shootings of Good, Alex\u00a0Pretti and Julio Sosa-Celis, but federal authorities for months have refused to turn over evidence. The state and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty have filed a lawsuit to force them to comply<\/a>, and that suit is still being heard in court.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Still, the uphill battles have not dissuaded Houston police investigations in the past. Former Chief Charles McLelland, who led the department from 2010 to 2016 and spent his entire career with the Houston Police Department, said it was standard protocol during his time for local officials to conduct their own investigations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis shooting and death occurred in Houston proper, in Harris County,\u201d said McLelland. \u201cWhenever the medical examiner classifies this shooting, it\u2019s going on HPD\u2019s books. It has to be accounted for in the crime stats. How are you not going to have anything to do with the investigation?\u201d<\/p>\n MAGNOLIA PARK PROTEST: Hundreds of protesters turn out to denounce ICE at scene of deadly Houston shooting<\/a><\/p>\n At least one other retired police chief agreed with McLelland\u2019s stance, saying it was important for local authorities to look into every shooting death that occurs in their boundaries.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re the chief of a city, Houston in this example, your bosses are the residents of Houston,\u201d said Jorge Colina, a retired Miami police chief who now consults for law enforcement agencies nationwide. \u201cYou can say, \u2018OK, we want to embed an investigator, because the people of Houston have a right to know what happened.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n City Council Member Joaquin Martinez, whose district includes the neighborhood where the shooting happened, called for HPD<\/a> to join the DA\u2019s investigation, saying \u201cwe have an obligation to exhaust every available local recourse.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Al Green, a Houston Democrat, told reporters yesterday there is no law preventing a local probe, and he hopes investigators pursue one.<\/p>\n “The Houston Police Department ought to see this as its responsibility, its obligation to get involved in this,\u201d Green said. \u201cThis is no time for us to decide that we’re just going to wait and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Hundreds of demonstrators gather in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood for a protest, march and candlelight vigil following the shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a federal agent during a federal immigration enforcement operation in Houston, Wednesday, July 8, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n A fissure under the Trump administration<\/p>\n Bryna Godar, a staff attorney<\/a> with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said federal and state officials have historically collaborated on these investigations. But the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown this year has led to a fissure.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent months, what we\u2019ve seen is that process has broken down across three shootings in Minnesota,\u201d Godar said. \u201cDHS and the DOJ have refused to share even basic information with state investigators and prosecutors, and the state has sued to obtain that information, and that litigation is now pending. So we\u2019re seeing far less collaboration between the federal government and state investigators, and we\u2019re also seeing a change in how federal officials are conducting their own investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n But there is no question federal officials can be charged with local crimes. Godar mentioned the infamous Ruby Ridge standoff in Idaho in the 1990s, when an FBI sniper accidentally shot and killed Vicki Weaver, the wife of anti-government separatist Randall Weaver. Federal prosecutors declined to bring charges, and local Idaho prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter.<\/p>\n The case lingered for years until a federal court concluded it could continue in state court because it was unclear whether the shooter \u201cacted in an objectively reasonable manner in carrying out his duties.\u201d Soon after, a newly elected local prosecutor dropped the case.<\/p>\n ELECTED RESPONSE: How Houston and Texas officials are responding to fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n