![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785455891_436_lorenzo-photo-3x2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Watch the full interview on CNN\u2019s Erin Burnett OutFront tonight at 7 p.m. ET.\n<\/p>\n
\n A witness to the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a federal immigration agent in Houston said Thursday he is traumatized and unable to sleep, especially since he says Salgado Araujo never posed a threat to officers and was going to surrender when his van was stopped.\n <\/p>\n
\n ICE, in its initial statement early this month, said Salgado Araujo rammed into a law enforcement vehicle and refused to follow commands before an agent fired his weapon in self-defense.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat\u2019s a lie,\u201d Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, 51, a passenger in the van who was released from ICE custody Wednesday, said in an exclusive interview with CNN airing on Erin Burnett OutFront.\n <\/p>\n
\n A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not directly respond to Rojas Pliego\u2019s claim, saying it is investigating the agent-involved shooting while the Houston FBI looks into the potential assault on a federal officer.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Rojas Pliego told CNN\u2019s Ed Lavandera he was devastated by the agents\u2019 tactics, noting the van\u2019s three passengers were forcefully removed from the vehicle and Salgado Araujo was mortally wounded, pulled out of the vehicle, thrown to the ground and lifted up to be handcuffed.\n <\/p>\n
\n The fatal shooting was the latest case to garner extreme scrutiny and skepticism<\/a> over Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s tactics and apparent rush to defend those involved.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe were only going to work,\u201d Rojas Pliego said. \u201cI only ask for justice for him, his family and the workers.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Salgado Araujo was behind the wheel of the van the morning of July 7 when ICE said he was shot while attempting to evade arrest during a traffic stop.\n <\/p>\n \n Rojas Pliego said \u201cat no moment\u201d were there agents in front of or behind the van during the stop. \u201cHe was going to surrender,\u201d the witness said of Salgado Araujo, adding he never attacked or threatened officers.\n <\/p>\n \n Rojas Pliego entered the US in 1998, according to court documents. The Mexican immigrant has no criminal record in the US and is common-law married to an American citizen, according to a habeas corpus petition filed by his attorney.\n <\/p>\n \n Rojas Pliego\u2019s attorney, Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, told CNN his client has to wear an ankle monitor and report to ICE regularly after his release from detention. Rojas Pliego, who may qualify for a visa and work permit issued to crime victims, is in removal proceedings, according to the attorney.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThings will never be the same with my family,\u201d said Rojas Pliego, who referred to Salgado Araujo as \u201cEl Patron,\u201d or The Boss. \u201cI\u2019m sad about \u2026 what I saw, since I was the one who witnessed it all.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Though the agency described the incident as a \u201ctargeted enforcement operation,\u201d it did not specify whether Salgado Araujo was the target. A source with preliminary details <\/a>of the shooting said Salgado Araujo was not the target of the enforcement action.\n <\/p>\n \n Salgado Araujo\u2019s family has disputed the government\u2019s self-defense claim, saying they believe he would have stopped and complied with federal agents if he had known the cars following him belonged to ICE or other law enforcement. He had been seeking a work permit and had no criminal record, his family said.\n <\/p>\n \n The 52-year-old father of three encountered ICE agents as he picked up the last members of his construction crew in Houston\u2019s East End area before heading north to finish construction on several houses, Salgado Araujo\u2019s oldest son said. Because Salgado Araujo\u2019s van and tools had been stolen in the past, he had been cautious about being followed, his son told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n No video or photos of the traffic stop or the shooting have been released by federal officials. The officers involved had not been issued body-worn cameras, a DHS spokesperson told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n The DHS\u2019 Office of the Inspector General is now leading an investigation into the shooting, according to ICE. And the FBI\u2019s Houston field office is investigating the alleged assault on a federal law enforcement officer.\n <\/p>\n \n Texas Democratic lawmakers<\/a>, activists and Salgado Araujo\u2019s family have called for an independent investigation into his death.\n <\/p>\n \n The case was the latest in which someone<\/a> was severely injured or killed<\/a> this year after being shot by a federal immigration enforcement agent \u2014 and raises questions again about who is targeted<\/a> in a nationwide immigration crackdown the Trump administration says<\/a> aims to remove dangerous criminals.\n <\/p>\n \n Shortly before the shooting, agents were investigating two Guatemalan men known to be driving a white van who had previously evaded arrest and were potentially subject to deportation, the US attorney for Texas\u2019 southern district said.\n <\/p>\n \n While the agents searched for that van on the morning of July 7, officers received a report of a similar van in the area that then fled as the officers tried to pull it over, according to the US attorney, Aaron Reitz.\n <\/p>\n \n The three other men in the van, including Salgado Araujo\u2019s brother, were detained.\n <\/p>\n \n A week after the shooting, the FBI filed a warrant application saying the agency had cause to believe that an investigator \u2014 after the shooting \u2014 saw illegal drugs in the vehicle longtime Texas resident Salgado Araujo had been driving.\n <\/p>\n![\"Jos\u00e9](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/still-22850225-103018-61499999999-still.jpg\")
<\/p>\n