A man described by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an undocumented immigrant was fatally shot in Houston after allegedly attempting to ram ICE officers during an enforcement action, the agency said Tuesday.
According to an ICE spokesperson who spoke with INC News, officers were trying to carry out a traffic stop involving Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, at about 6:50 a.m.
The agency said Araujo attempted to flee and “weaponized his vehicle” by trying to run over an ICE law enforcement officer, prompting the officer to fire in self-defense.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were seeking to take Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, into custody in Houston when he allegedly attempted to ram officers with a vehicle. ICE said an officer opened fire, killing Araujo. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Araujo was hit by gunfire and transported to a hospital, where he later died. The FBI has opened an investigation into the shooting.
ICE said a similar incident occurred on July 1, when an agent fired at another undocumented immigrant who allegedly tried to drive a vehicle into authorities.
A law enforcement officer walks past an ICE logo before a press conference on Thursday, May 11, 2017, at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In that case, officers were attempting to arrest Clemente Lara-Hernandez, a Mexican national, when he allegedly tried to strike an officer, drove the wrong way down a one-way street and then collided with a civilian vehicle.
An ICE officer fired a shot, but no one appeared to be injured. Lara-Hernandez remains at large.
“Our ICE law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest the worst of the worst,” ICE said at the time of the shooting.
