Lorenzo Salgado Araujo drugs claim undercut by negative test
Houston DA Sean Teare says a substance in the van of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, killed by an ICE agent, tested negative for illicit drugs.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The Lorenzo Salgado Araujo drugs claim cited in a federal court filing took a sharp turn Friday after the Harris County district attorney’s office said a substance found in his work van tested negative for illicit drugs.
Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant and construction worker, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Houston on July 7. CBS News reported that he had lived in the United States for 35 years.
ICE has said Salgado Araujo “weaponized” his vehicle during an attempted traffic stop and that an agent shot him in self-defense. CBS News reported that the other men in the van, who remain in ICE custody, have disputed that account.
Did Lorenzo Salgado Araujo have drugs in his van?
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare’s office said Friday that testing found no narcotics or illicit drugs in the substance recovered from Salgado Araujo’s van. The office said it had told his family because they “had the right to know.”
Teare’s office said it would not release more information about the results because the investigation is still underway.
The test result cuts against a claim raised after the shooting in an FBI affidavit filed in federal court. According to CBS News, the affidavit said the FBI suspected the van contained methamphetamine and included photographs taken from outside the vehicle showing small bags with a white crystal-like substance that an agent said was consistent with meth.
The FBI told CBS News it had no comment on the test results.
Representatives for Salgado Araujo’s family had said the substance was likely granulated salt, which construction workers used to make a homemade electrolyte drink for the summer heat, according to CBS News. Friday’s announcement from the district attorney’s office was consistent with that explanation.
What are investigators reviewing in the ICE shooting?
The FBI and ICE’s internal oversight office are reviewing the July 7 shooting, CBS News reported. Federal officials began the inquiry as one into a possible assault on an agent.
Teare’s office is also conducting its own investigation. Teare previously told CBS News he is “more than prepared” to prosecute ICE agents if he finds criminal wrongdoing.
David Donatti, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas, which is representing Salgado Araujo’s family, criticized the federal government after the test result was disclosed. In a statement to CBS News, Donatti said the government was “more interested in creating a false narrative than in seeking the truth.”
“Lorenzo Salgado Araujo should still be alive today, and nothing about the government’s so-called ‘search’ could have changed that fact,” Donatti said. “That search has now proven what the Salgado family has said all along: Lorenzo was a hardworking man who made homes for Houston families.”
ICE has said Salgado Araujo was living in the United States illegally. CBS News reported that ICE has not disputed that he had no criminal record.
In an interview with CBS News, Salgado Araujo’s eldest sons, both U.S. citizens, described their father as a hardworking man who loved music and his family.
“He was drawn by the promise that in America you can, if you put in the work, you’ll get paid what you deserve, and the idea that in America, you can build yourself up from nothing to become someone, and to give your family a better future,” Lorenzo Salgado Jr. said.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.