The son of a man from Mexico who was killed Tuesday by an immigration enforcement agent during a traffic stop in Houston called for an independent investigation into his death.
Ronaldo Salgado, the son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, described learning that his father had been on his way to work when he was shot inside his car. During an emotional press briefing Wednesday, Mr. Salgado held back tears recalling the moment he saw a video in which he heard his father cry in agony moments after he was injured.
“I learned of my father’s passing from a news report and social media, not the hospital, not law enforcement,” Mr. Salgado said. “He did not deserve to die.”
Mr. Araujo, 52, was mourned by his family as a father, husband and business owner who had been in the country for 35 years and was trying to obtain legal residency.
Details of the interaction between Mr. Salgado and immigration agents were unclear. Federal authorities said that agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stopped a vehicle around 6:50 a.m. and tried to arrest Mr. Araujo, whom they described as an “illegal alien.” They said he “weaponized his vehicle” and tried to run over the agent, who then fired at him.
No evidence was immediately provided to support that account.
Mr. Araujo suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen, was taken to a hospital and died, said Rustin Rawlings, a spokesman for the Houston Fire Department. Mr. Salgado said that he has not heard the other men who were detained at the scene of the shooting.
The authorities did not say why Mr. Araujo was being sought and did not provide video camera footage of the altercation.
Mr. Araujo’s son, speaking on behalf of his family, and several immigration activist organizations and elected officials are also asking the public to come forward with any new video or images that shed light on what led to the fatal encounter.
Videos on social media appear to show immigration agents hovering over a man holding his abdominal area. Other images showed another man on the ground with his hands behind his back as someone screamed in pain.
“I am calling for a full investigation into the events that transpired yesterday,” Mr. Salgado said.
The Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office is conducting an investigation. The F.B.I.’s Houston office will focus its investigation into what the authorities have called an assault on a federal law enforcement officer.
Mr. Salgado’s family and civil rights activists are calling for an inquiry that will be fully transparent.
The fatal shooting is part of a growing number of violent interactions between people in cars and federal agents.
More than 20 people have been shot since September, nearly all of them in their cars and some of them fatally. Federal officials have said in most cases that the actions were justified because the vehicles had been “weaponized” and the agents’ lives were in danger.
But in the year since President’s Trump began his aggressive immigration crackdown, many accounts of shootings by immigration agents have since been contradicted by video evidence. Those include two fatal shootings in Minneapolis during a crackdown in January. In another case, video undermined the account of an ICE agent, resulting in dropped charges against the man who was shot. The agents involved in the shooting had previously been suspended by ICE and placed under federal investigation.
Juan Proaño, chief executive of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said that Mr. Araujo, who runs a construction business, had been on his way to a site with three workers, including a brother, when they came across the federal agents.
The league and other immigration activists have also called for an independent investigation by the local authorities into the shooting.
“How dare ICE act this violently, as though officers are above the law, and then expect the family, the community and the American public to believe anything they say?” Roman Palomares, a leader of the league, said during Tuesday’s press briefing.
Some residents near the shooting scene said that ICE agents have been a common sight in recent weeks. One resident, Katherine Cruz, said that a few weeks ago ICE agents cut her off abruptly as she drove in the neighborhood.
“The way I was approached, I’m assuming he got approached the same way. Unfortunately, he lost his life and I didn’t,” Ms. Cruz said.
Shahrzad Rasekh contributed reporting from Houston.
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