Witnesses to ICE shootings in Houston dispute agency's version, lawyer says

By Arathy Somasekhar and Evan Garcia and Kristina Cooke

HOUSTON, Jul 10 (Reuters) - Three men who witnessed the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a federal agent in Houston on Tuesday disputed the explanation presented by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the attorney for two of the witnesses told reporters at a news conference on Friday.

The three witnesses, including Salgado's brother, are being held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. They were driving to work with Salgado in his white van on Tuesday morning when they were stopped by ICE agents. His lawyer, Hugo Baldero-Ybera, said they gave him a "completely different" version of what happened that day.

He demanded that the men be released immediately to "ensure the integrity" of the investigation into the incident. He also expressed concern that the government could pressure them to sign documents that would allow them to be deported.

The shooting sparked protests in Houston's East End, a neighborhood with a large concentration of Hispanics. More than 1,000 people marched peacefully through the neighborhood on Wednesday, and residents left flowers and candles at the scene of the incident.

Hours after the incident on Tuesday, ICE released a statement saying that Salgado, a Mexican citizen who had been living in the U.S. illegally for more than three decades, crashed his van into a law enforcement vehicle and attempted to run over an agent, who then shot him in self-defense. The agency did not present evidence to corroborate its version of events.

"At no point was an officer directly in front of the vehicle, nor was an officer placed in the line of danger," said Baldero-Ybera, summarizing her clients' accounts. The men also told him that the fatal shots came from the side of the van, not the front, Baldero-Ybera added.

ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

In statements to the press outside the White House on Friday, Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's "border czar," said: "If agents acted outside of guidelines or illegally, they will be held accountable."

WAS NOT THE TARGET

Salgado was not the target of the ICE raid that resulted in his death, a DHS official told Reuters on Friday.

Weeks before the shooting, while conducting surveillance, immigration agents noticed two white vans on the intended target's property, the official said. On Tuesday morning, upon returning to that address, they spotted a white van "with an individual who resembled the target" and began approaching the vehicle, the employee said.

"Salgado's only crime was fitting the description of another man they were looking for," Baldero-Ybera said.

Family members, local activists and members of the US Congress demanded an independent investigation into Salgado's death. The father of three was a construction worker who had lived in Houston for 35 years and was in the process of obtaining a work permit, relatives said Wednesday.

The full circumstances of Tuesday's fatal confrontation remained unclear.

Surveillance camera footage initially released by local CBS affiliate KHOU11 shows an unmarked ICE vehicle apparently blocking Salgado's van in traffic; The van is then seen pulling over to the side of the road.

Other verified videos emerged after the shooting. In one of them, agents are seen standing next to a man holding his chest. In another, a man can be heard screaming in pain. No footage has yet emerged that captures the moment of the shooting.

The Trump administration took steps last year to slow a pilot program that aimed to equip ICE agents with body cameras, urging Congress to cut funding by 75%, Reuters reported in January. DHS said Thursday that none of the agents involved in the incident were wearing a camera.

There were also no dashboard cameras in the ICE vehicles that captured the shooting, Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia said at Friday's news conference. And there was no clear timeline for the investigation, which ICE said would be conducted by DHS.

The Harris County district attorney appealed to the public to provide videos, photos and eyewitness statements, but stressed that federal authorities are handling all aspects of the case.

Source: Antena 1