On the morning of July 7, 2026, 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Mexico was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston, Texas. Salgado Araujo was driving a work van with his brother and two co-workers to a construction job when federal agents attempted to stop the vehicle. He had lived in the United States for 35 years, built a life with his wife and three sons, ran a small construction business, and was reportedly in the process of regularizing his immigration status with no criminal record.

Accounts of what happened diverge. ICE says agents carried out a targeted enforcement operation, that Salgado Araujo evaded the stop, rammed an ICE vehicle and attempted to run over an officer, and that an agent fired in self-defense. The men in the van and their attorney deny the van was used to ram officers and say the officers’ lives were not in danger; the family suggests Salgado Araujo may have been frightened by unmarked vehicles and feared a robbery of his tools.

The three men who were with Salgado Araujo were taken into ICE custody. The officers involved were not wearing body cameras. The FBI is investigating and no arrests or charges have been announced. Does anyone have information about the encounter on Canal Street that morning?