‘They’re killing me’: Lawyer for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s brother shares his account of fatal shooting by ICE 9%
By Bianca Seward21%
7/15/2026, 10:00:43 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Negativity Bias, and Confirmation Bias, with Anecdotal as the most egregious example at 19.5% saturation with 186 hits. Analysis detected 1,082 faulty-reasoning hits from 955 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 26% and a BS Rank of 9% (14,519 of 15,918 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 91.20% of the article peer group.
Victor Salgado Araujo, the brother of the man fatally shot by a U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent last week in Houston, said the ICE officer opened the van's passenger door, yelled "stop!"
and then immediately fired their weapon, his attorney told Houston Public Media.
For a moment Victor didn't understand what had happened, said his lawyer, Ruby Powers.
The bullet had whipped past him in the passenger seat and hit his brother Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the driver, in the stomach.
As Victor was being pulled from the vehicle, he says Lorenzo grabbed his stomach, realized he was bleeding and said to Victor in Spanish, "They're killing me.
They're killing me," according to Powers.
Powers was tapped to represent Victor on the morning of July 10, she said, and has met with him three times since then at ICE's Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe to review the details of his account and prepare for his immigration court hearing scheduled for next week.
Victor was detained the morning of the July 7 shooting along with the two other passengers in the van.
The other two passengers also dispute ICE's account of the deadly encounter, according to their attorney.
Victor told Powers that for 10-20 minutes before the shooting, the men were followed by unmarked cars.
He described his brother Lorenzo as feeling "nervous" and trying to safely get away from the unmarked vehicles, Powers said.
"It seemed to move pretty quickly from the moment that they noticed some suspicious activity to the moment that there was a gunshot," Powers said.
RELATED: In the aftermath of deadly shootings, ICE pauses most traffic stops
Victor added it wasn't until he was pulled from the vehicle, and saw the agent wearing a bulletproof vest and an ICE lanyard, that he realized the men were agents, according to Powers.
In the hours after the shooting, an ICE spokesperson said the agents were performing a "targeted enforcement operation" in the East End and accused Lorenzo of attempting to evade arrest, weaponizing his vehicle and trying to run over an ICE officer.
The officer fired in self-defense, the ICE spokesperson said, echoing what has become a common refrain from the federal agency after fatal shootings by its agents.
A spokesperson for the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, later said Lorenzo was not the intended target of the operation.
Last week Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, an attorney representing the other two passengers in the van, said his clients' account of the shooting are "extremely different" from ICE's version of the events.
According to Balderas-Ibarra, his clients say there was never an ICE agent in front of the vehicle and that the shots came from the side of the van, which conflicts with ICE's report that Lorenzo was attempting to run over an ICE officer with his van.
Court records show Balderas-Ibarra is facing unrelated felony charges of assault and kidnapping, which could impact his ability to represent his clients in court if he is convicted.
Powers said she spoke with Balderas-Ibarra on Sunday to "compare notes," but otherwise the two are working independently from each other.
Powers says her client is grieving, in shock and constantly being reminded of what happened by the images on TV.
"He's away from friends, family, loved ones, and they're getting together this week for funeral plans, and he's basically sort of navigating this from a distance," Powers said.
A public viewing for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo is scheduled for 5-9 p.m.
Thursday, July 16 at Great Chapel at Forest Park Lawndale.
Ongoing investigations
Since the shooting, the FBI has launched an investigation into the potential assault on law enforcement, while the Office of Inspector General for DHS is investigating the shooting death.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office is investigating as well, but DA Sean Teare has said local prosecutors have not been invited to collaborate with the federal agencies and may not be privy to all the evidence they're collecting.
On Tuesday afternoon, the FBI's Houston office met with the DA's office, the Houston Police Department, the Texas Rangers and the U.S.
Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas to update the groups on the FBI's ongoing investigation and to "remain transparent with our partners and to maintain the public's trust," according to a social media post by the FBI's Houston office.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire and the Houston Police Department have received criticism for their reluctance to launch an investigation into the shooting.
Whitmire told reporters last week the municipal police department cannot independently investigate the incident, which legal experts disputed.
Whitmire said at Tuesday's city council meeting he has shared audio of a 911 call and video footage from a METRO bus with the DA's office.
RELATED: Hundreds protest at Houston City Hall as Whitmire says city shared evidence with DA’s office
Late Tuesday evening, the mayor's office said it instructed Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz to formally request an independent investigation by the Texas Rangers, the criminal investigative branch of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Powers said Victor Salgado Araujo has been interviewed by a federal agency, but declined to disclose which agency.
She said he's also been interviewed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office and has met with the consul general of Mexico.
She adds her team is working on getting Victor released from ICE detention so he can freely share his account of what happened during the shooting of his brother – without the stress of being detained.
"He wants to be able to help the ongoing investigations and to share what happened in an unfettered setting," Powers said.
Analysis
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