{"id":421437,"date":"2026-08-31T01:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/421437\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T01:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:38:13","slug":"witness-to-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-ice-shooting-released-from-custody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/421437\/","title":{"rendered":"Witness to Lorenzo Salgado Araujo ICE shooting released from custody"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly two months after witnessing an ICE agent\u00a0fatally shoot his older brother<\/a>, Victor Salgado Araujo was released from an immigration detention center Sunday morning in Conroe.<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Salgado was driving a white work van with his brother and two other men on July 7 in Houston\u2019s Magnolia Park neighborhood when he was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. ICE agents detained all three passengers.<\/p>\n

Two other passengers, Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego<\/a> and Daniel Tirado Pantoja<\/a>, were released in late July and last week, respectively. All three men were held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, and they disputed claims by federal officials that Salgado had “weaponized” his vehicle and tried to ram the ICE agents.<\/p>\n

Victor\u00a0Salgado\u2019s release Sunday was confirmed by his son, Ronaldo Salgado; his attorney, Ruby Powers; and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“After 54 days, our uncle and my dad\u2019s youngest brother, Victor Hugo Salgado, was released this morning,” Ronaldo Salgado said in a statement on social media. “We picked him up from Montgomery Detention Center before noon. His first meal was chilaquiles from his favorite restaurant, just as his usual Sunday routine called for.”<\/p>\n

Powers said Salgado’s release doesn’t end her office’s efforts to hold the federal government accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pursuit of truth, accountability, and justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo continues, and we remain steadfast in protecting Victor\u2019s immigration rights and standing alongside him and his family,” she said. “We thank the faith leaders, community organizations, advocates, elected officials, members of the media, and all who attended vigils, marches, and protests, spoke out, and stood alongside Victor and his family throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia said she joins the community in giving the family \u201cspace and privacy\u201d to grieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictor\u00a0Salgado should have never spent nearly two months in ICE custody after watching an ICE agent shoot and kill his brother,\u201d Garcia said in a statement. \u201cI am so glad he is finally home with his family. We\u2019re not done fighting for answers and justice for the Salgado family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The records say ICE officers activated emergency lights and sirens during the pursuit that ended in the 6800 block of Canal Street. The officers alleged Salgado\u2019s van struck two federal vehicles before stopping. Victor Salgado, Tirado and Rojas have disputed those claims in separate interviews.<\/p>\n

The new documents do not identify\u00a0Salgado or describe the shooting. Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, objected to the information being made public. But the records were filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in federal court and were publicly available at the federal courthouse in Houston.<\/p>\n

At a prayer circle organized<\/a>\u00a0last week by the Migration with Dignity Coalition, an interfaith group of immigrant advocates, Lorenzo Salgado Jr. pleaded for his uncle\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe misses his older brother, who really was almost like a father figure to him,\u201d he said. \u201cThey went to work together every single day for 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powers said Friday that Victor Salgado was ready and willing to testify in front of the grand jury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s one of the key witnesses to what happened that day. We continue to advocate for Victor’s rights and his ability to participate freely as a key witness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly two months after witnessing an ICE agent\u00a0fatally shoot his older brother, Victor Salgado Araujo was released from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[86133,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-421437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-hc-crime","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421437","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=421437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}