{"id":383136,"date":"2026-07-23T00:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383136\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T00:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:09:17","slug":"passengers-in-texas-ice-shooting-say-officers-not-in-danger-driver-was-parking-when-shots-fired-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383136\/","title":{"rendered":"Passengers in Texas ICE shooting say officers not in danger, driver was parking when shots fired"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 The immigration officer who shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston was not in danger of being run over, two passengers in his van<\/a> told a federal court this week.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security said shortly after the July 7 shooting that Salgado Araujo had \u201cweaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,\u201d and that the officer had fired in self-defense.<\/p>\n

But two men who were riding with Salgado Araujo wrote in statements submitted in court that the officers with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement were to the sides of their van, never in front or behind it; one of them described the government\u2019s account as \u201ca lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homebuilder died in front of his construction crew <\/p>\n

Salgado Araujo, who was living without legal status in the U.S. for 35 years and running a homebuilding business, died that morning in front of his construction crew, including his own brother. His family said he had no criminal record.<\/p>\n

His killing, one of at least 10 during immigration enforcement operations<\/a> since the start of President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign, sparked widespread protests<\/a> in Houston and calls for an i ndependent and transparent investigation.<\/a> The officers were not wearing body cameras, and no photos and videos of the shooting have surfaced.<\/p>\n

The three men who were with him that morning were arrested, and are now in immigration detention facilities. They have each filed habeas corpus petitions, alleging their confinement is unconstitutional and asking the court to order their release.<\/p>\n

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego and Daniel Tirado Pantoja attached their accounts of the shooting to their petitions, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune<\/a>. They both wrote that they have been in the U.S. for decades and have no criminal history. Victor Salgado, the brother of the man killed, has also asked a judge to order him released. But his attorney asked the court that his petition be sealed to protect his privacy, so his account of the killing is not yet public.<\/p>\n

Rojas Pliego wrote in Spanish that Salgado Araujo picked him up at 6:30 that morning, which was their daily routine. They then picked up the other two men.<\/p>\n

Passengers said they were \u2018startled\u2019 by vehicle following them<\/p>\n

Tirado Pantoja said a vehicle soon began following them, \u201calmost crashing\u201d into their van. He wrote that they were \u201cstartled\u201d and ran over a curb attempted to turn around.<\/p>\n

The ICE vehicle chased them, Rojas Pliego wrote, and Salgado Araujo eventually thought they lost the tail. Then suddenly, the agents had them cornered. <\/p>\n

Tirado Pantoja wrote that the ICE vehicle hit them from behind, then again on the driver\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

DHS, which oversees ICE, has said it was the other way around: they allege Salgado Araujo rammed the ICE vehicles with his van. A federal prosecutor in Texas has said that ICE officers were targeting two Guatemalan men who were potentially subject to deportation and driving a van similar to Salgado Araujo\u2019s. DHS said he ignored commands and attempted to run over the officer with his vehicle, and the officer fired in self-defense.<\/p>\n

Rojas Pliego wrote that\u2019s \u201ca lie\u201d and \u201cimpossible:\u201d \u201cthere wasn\u2019t a single officer behind or in front of us, they were only on the sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tirado Pantoja, too, wrote that the agents were never in front of the vehicle, adding that Salgado Araujo had \u201cput vehicle in park as the agents were shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being shot, Salgado Araujo was handcuffed and thrown to the ground<\/p>\n

Rojas Pliego wrote that the officers pulled Salgado Araujo wounded out of the car, handcuffed him and \u201cthrew him to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tirado Pantoja wrote that Salgado Araujo at some point said \u201cYa me mataron\u201d \u2013 \u201cthey\u2019ve already killed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rojas Pliego wrote that the same officer who fired the shot then \u201cdragged us out violently, throwing us to the ground while we were handcuffed and chained from head to toe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Reitz, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, issued a statement last week promising a full investigation by his office, the FBI, DHS and state and local law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing everything we can to seek the truth and do the right thing,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

DHS said in a statement Wednesday that its Office of Inspector General is also investigating. It said the FBI’s Houston office \u201cis leading an investigation into the potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer.\u201d <\/p>\n

A judge on Monday barred the government from deporting Rojas Pliego or removing him from the district without the court\u2019s approval. A different judge, overseeing Tirado Pantoja\u2019s case, on Wednesday ordered the federal government to notify the court with at least five days notice if they plan to transfer him outside of the district or deport him.<\/p>\n

Raed Gonzalez Olivieri, a lawyer representing both men, wrote in their petitions that the circumstances of their detentions \u201care exceptional: those who now administer his custody shot at him at close range.\u201d The petition says that puts them at increased risk of emotional and physical pain while incarcerated.<\/p>\n

Both men applied for visas designed to protect immigrants who are victims of crimes and assist law enforcement. Gonzalez Olivieri wrote in their petitions that they survived \u201caggravated assault with a deadly weapon\u201d and are material witnesses to the killing.<\/p>\n

___ <\/p>\n

Associated Press reporter Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 The immigration officer who shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston was not in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4485,130539,145,23682,134828,129319,13161,27,29,28,1499,132613],"class_list":["post-383136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-aaron-reitz","tag-daniel-tirado-pantoja","tag-donald-trump","tag-ethnicity","tag-jose-trinidad-rojas-pliego","tag-lorenzo-salgado-araujo","tag-race","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-u-s-news","tag-victor-salgado"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}