Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare is pushing back against an FBI assessment that the van driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo contained illegal drugs before the 52-year-old was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston last week.
“Based on the information we have regarding who Mr. Salgado was, and just eyeballing the evidence as it was collected yesterday, we don’t believe that they are drugs,” Teare, a Democrat, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Thursday.
The FBI filed a warrant application citing probable cause for “distribution, manufacturing, or possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and simple possession of a controlled substance,” according to CNN. But Teare dismissed the significance of any potential drug findings, arguing they are irrelevant to whether the officer’s use of force was justified.
“It has no bearing on why Mr. Salgado and the other three individuals were targeted. It has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not the use [of force against] Salgado was justified,” Teare said. “This is a red herring that really has no bearing on a death investigation.”
The shooting occurred as Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the Houston area for 35 years and was close to obtaining legal status, was driving to work. ICE accused him of attempting to weaponize his vehicle against officers, but other men in the van disputed that, saying officers in unmarked vehicles surrounded them on both sides.
Salgado Araujo’s family says he had no criminal record. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) said ICE Director David Venturella told her that Salgado Araujo was not the intended target of the operation.
Teare said he expects the FBI to test the substances “either today or in the next few days” and urged the bureau to release the results “immediately.” The incident has fueled broader calls for accountability, including demands for independent oversight after two fatal ICE shootings in a week. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) has also pressed for an update on ICE body camera policies.
Even if the substances are later confirmed as drugs, Teare emphasized that the finding would not change his office’s focus on whether the shooting was justified. “It has no bearing on why Mr. Salgado and the other three individuals were targeted,” he reiterated.
