Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a man killed by federal immigration agents during a traffic stop in Houston this week, was not the intended target of the “enforcement operation”, the Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were reportedly seeking two people from Guatemala when they attempted to stop Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for 35 years, the New York Times reported.
Salgado Araujo, who was on his way to work early on Tuesday morning, was driving three other people in a white van. After the shooting, the three men were taken into custody. One of the three men has been identified by advocates as Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, the brother of the victim. The New York Times reported that he was still in an immigration detention center.
‘We meant to kill someone else extrajudiciously but we killed a different person extrajudiciously. Whoops.’
In a statement provided to the Guardian, an unnamed DHS official said officers had received a tip from law enforcement partners about their target’s address and had previously spotted two white vans at that property.
"On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target,” the official said.
Because he was Hispanic and drove a work van…
“Sounds like probable cause for an extrajudicial execution to me. [Belches]. I like beer!”
