Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare toldHouston Public Mediaon Thursday that his office is conducting its own investigation into a federal immigration agent’s fatal shooting of a man in Houston earlier this week.
Speaking on theHello Houstonshow,Teare said his office is “running an investigation” into the shooting despite not being invited to participate in an investigation by federal authorities. He acknowledged that his office does “not have the same level of access that we do in almost any other officer-involved shooting,” adding, “I can tell you unequivocally, we don't have everything."
“If a state crime was committed, be it a murder, be it a manslaughter, be it tampering with evidence, we are going to investigate it,” Teare said. “And if someone committed that crime, you don't get to hide behind a badge.”
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a longtime Houston resident originally from Mexico, was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on Tuesday morning in Houston’s predominantly Latino East End. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that Salgado Araujo did not have legal status in the U.S. and attempted to evade arrest. A department spokesperson also said Salgado Araujo tried to run over an ICE agent with his vehicle, prompting the agent to shoot Salgado Araujo in self-defense.
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The man’s family has disputed that account while calling for an independent investigation. Local Democratic elected officials also have called for an independent investigation. The FBI said Tuesday that DHS’ Office of Inspector General is investigating the shooting death, while the FBI is investigating whether a federal law enforcement officer was potentially assaulted during the encounter.
Teare said that typically, his office would conduct an investigation alongside other agencies in the event of an officer-involved shooting, but that his office has not been invited to do so. The DA’s office investigates and prosecutes crimes in Harris County, which includes Houston.
"My investigators have been on the scene. We have talked to individuals," Teare said Thursday. "My investigators were at both of the vigils last night, at the marches, just talking to people, finding out if we have eyewitnesses that people haven't seen yet. And we're going to get some semblance of transparency for the public, because I think it is incredibly important to do so."
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Houston Mayor John Whitmire said the city's police department cannot independently investigate the incident. The Houston Police Department said in a statement, "Federal law states local law enforcement has no independent jurisdiction to investigate federal agencies or federal law enforcement personnel who are acting in the course and scope of their official duties.”
Thomas Hogan, assistant professor at the South Texas College of Law, said the assertion that HPD lacked jurisdiction was "ridiculous."
Sandra Guerra Thompson, professor at the University of Houston Law Center, agreed the incident could be investigated by local authorities.
"If you have a federal officer who just at point-blank decides to kill someone, that’s a state crime — that would be murder under state law," Thompson said. "They’re not relieved of jurisdiction just because the person is a federal agent. Now, what (HPD's) language says is, ‘If they’re acting in the course of their normal duties,' but that really can’t be determined until there is an investigation."
On Thursday, Teare did not provide a timeline for his office’s investigation but said he had talked with officials in Minneapolis — the city where two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by ICE agents earlier this year.
"We're past [the time] to do the investigation in the way that we have all done these times and again," Teare said. "That being said, we're going to do everything that we can. I have been in communication with the Hennepin County District Attorney's Office, Minneapolis, because no one is more familiar with these kinds of situations than them."
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