The family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Houston man who was fatally shot by a federal immigration officer Tuesday morning, said Thursday they have faced several hurdles trying to claim his body, which still had not been released to them.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Juan Proaño, the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), said the agents had taken away all of Salgado Araujo's personal identifications.
"There was nothing to identify him when he arrived at the hospital and as a result the hospital took him in as a John Doe," Proaño said. "In doing so, it set off a bunch of triggers, a bunch of extra hurdles that the family has had to effectively navigate through."
Salgado Araujo, a father of three who originally was from Mexico, was shot during what a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson called a "targeted enforcement operation" in Houston's East End, a predominantly Latino area. The ICE spokesperson said Salgado Araujo did not have legal status in the U.S. and alleged that he "weaponized his vehicle" and tried to run over an officer, prompting the officer to shoot him in self-defense.
His family has disputed the federal agency’s account and called for an independent investigation, as have civil rights groups and Democratic elected officials.
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A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, citing her conversation with acting ICE director David Venturella, said Salgado Araujo was not the intended target of the operation. The agents involved were not wearing body cameras, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which cited a funding shortage related to recent government shutdowns.
Salgado Araujo was shot in the abdomen and then taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he later died from his wounds. His sons say they learned of the shooting on social media after seeing a clip of their father laying in the street after he'd been shot.
"I saw a video posted on Facebook that he had been shot," said his son, Ronaldo Salgado. "I recognized him immediately, not from his appearance, but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street bleeding out."
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Proaño said the family was required to provide biometric information, which can include DNA samples, to verify Salgado Araujo’s identity. As a result, authorities did not officially declare him dead until 24 hours after the shooting.
Proaño says officials are requiring Salgado Araujo's wife to claim his body. However, because she does not have legal immigration status in the U.S., Proaño said, the family now needs to work with lawyers to give Ronaldo power of attorney so the family can claim his body and have a funeral.
"They haven’t made it easy," Proaño said. "They’ve made it very, very difficult for the family."
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the family's accusations.
Last hour
New video footagefrom the last hour of Salgado Araujo's life, posted on social media by his son Ronaldo, shows him packing the passenger side of his van and then climbing into the driver's seat. He pulled the vehicle out of the driveway at 5:54 a.m., less than an hour before his deadly encounter with ICE.
Ronaldo says his father was leaving to pick up his fellow work crew and then heading to North Houston to finish up construction on some houses.
Ronaldo says his father's last moments have been replaying vividly in his head.
"It still doesn't feel real. This was my dad's last time loading his van with his coffee and lunch like he has done so for decades," Ronaldo wrote in a post alongside the video. "He should have been pulling into that driveway 14 hours later after putting in a long day in the Houston sun. He should have been eating a huge home-cooked meal prepared by my mom. He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be pulled out of his van, bleeding to death while ICE agents detained him."
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The family says Salgado Araujo had worked building homes in the Houston area for decades and had recently begun the process of applying for legal immigration status. He had been living in the U.S. for nearly 35 years, according to his family.
Salgado Araujo did not have a criminal record in Harris County, which includes Houston, online court records show.
Houston Public Media’s Michael Adkison contributed to this report.
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