Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot and killed during a traffic stop. Witnesses dispute ICE’s account of the shooting. The FBI now says there may have been drugs in Salgado Araujo’s van.
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The FBI is investigating whether there were drugs inside a cargo van after an immigration officer shot and killed a 52-year-old Mexican man during a traffic stop in Houston, according to a sealed search warrant obtained by USA TODAY.
The July 14 warrant application filed by FBI Special Agent David McNeely seeks to search the white Ford van where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the morning of July 7, while his family and co-workers were on their way to work.
The Department of Homeland Security said Salgado Araujo was subjected to a traffic stop after mistaking the vehicle for someone else instead of the person in his car.
“The United States is currently gathering all facts regarding this incident, including what caused the vehicle occupants to flee,” McNairys said in the warrant application. The application was supposed to be sealed, but it was still available for viewing by USA TODAY.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Bennett in Texas issued the search warrant on the same day McNeely filed the application, and the case was added to the federal docket on July 15. Bennett did not indicate that the application needed to be unsealed, according to court records.
A spokesperson for the FBI field office in Houston referred questions about the search warrant to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, which told USA TODAY it “has nothing additional to provide at this time.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment. However, ICE referred USA TODAY to a statement released last week but did not answer specific questions about the search warrant or the circumstances of the shooting.
ICE said the shooting remains under investigation by the DHS Office of Inspector General.
USA TODAY reached out to attorneys representing the three men who were in the van during the shooting. All men were detained.
Federal authorities said Salgado Araujo “used a deadly weapon on his vehicle in an attempt to run over” a police officer during the traffic stop that led to the shooting. The men who were in the van with Salgado Araujo disputed this account, saying he posed no threat to anyone and that ICE agents fired at Salgado Araujo from the side of the vehicle.
ICE officers were not wearing body cameras, even though federal authorities promised earlier this year to fully equip them with them and provide $20 million in funding for the technology.
After the shooting, McNairy said in the warrant application that he arrived at the scene and saw “in plain view” several small plastic bags containing “a white crystal-like substance” (three in the center of the dashboard and one on the passenger floorboard). McNeely identified himself on the application as a former Houston police officer and said he believed the contents of the bag were consistent with methamphetamine.
It is unclear whether the substance was tested.
An FBI evidence response team arrived at the scene and took photos of the interior of the van, which were released in court records. However, McNeely’s application says law enforcement has not yet entered or searched the vehicle.
In applying to the court to search the van, Mr McNeely said evidence of the small bag meant there was “probable cause” that a federal crime had been violated.
Houston authorities are asking for evidence related to the shooting of Salgado Araujo to be shared. Houston Mayor John Whitmore called for an independent investigation, saying the FBI had evidence that local police would normally use to investigate similar shootings, but that the FBI was not sharing the material.
