Federal immigration enforcement officers fatally shot a man during a traffic stop in Houston after targeting the wrong individual, according to The Guardian.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was not the intended subject of the tactical enforcement operation conducted this week.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were originally searching for two individuals from Guatemala when they intercepted Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had resided in the United States for 35 years.
The victim was driving three other individuals in a white passenger van on his way to work early Tuesday morning when the encounter occurred.
Authorities detained the three remaining passengers following the gunfire, including the victim's brother, Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, who remains held at an immigration detention center.
An unnamed Department of Homeland Security official stated that personnel acted on a tip regarding a target address where two white vans had been previously observed.
"On July 7, officers were almost at the target's address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target," the official said.
The official statement did not clarify the exact sequence of events leading to the discharge of the weapon.
Local law enforcement records indicate Salgado Araujo succumbed to his injuries at a hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Federal authorities confirmed that the operational officers involved in the fatal incident were not equipped with body cameras.
The involved ICE agents alleged that Salgado Araujo used his vehicle as a weapon to endanger an officer, prompting the discharge of the firearm in self-defense.
However, the federal agency has not provided independent evidence to substantiate the claim regarding the vehicle alignment.
The Department of Homeland Security inspector general's office will launch a formal investigation into the fatal shooting of Salgado Araujo.
"He did not deserve to die," Ronaldo Salgado, the son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"This is outrageous to me, and this is ridiculous to hear that no one in that van was a target of any sort of investigation," Salgado told the New York Times.
Public report reviews show this death represents the 10th fatal shooting by federal immigration officials nationwide since the second Trump administration began.
