In the days since Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer during a traffic stop, many Latinos in Houston have voiced fear that his killing could have happened to anyone.
During funeral services on Thursday evening, many guests said they saw themselves in the family's strength and grief.
For Elmer Romero, he said he saw his own life modeled by the sons of Salgado Araujo. He said his own father was killed during the Salvadoran Civil War, and he wanted to give Salgado Araujo’s sons a message of encouragement.
"I say to the boys in Spanish, ‘Fuerza para la lucha,'" he said. Strength for the struggle. "Fuerza para la lucha. That's all we need."
Romero, who also works as an activist with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, or NDLON, was one of hundreds of people who paid their respects to the memory of Salgado Araujo, who died nine days prior on July 7. The family held a public visitation with a Catholic rosary Thursday evening at Forest Park Lawndale, just a five-minute drive from where Salgado Araujo was killed in Houston’s East End Neighborhood.
Salgado Araujo was a 52-year-old father of three who was originally from Mexico. He had been living in the United States for decades without legal immigration status, according to his family. The ICE agents involved were not wearing body cameras, and no video footage of the shooting itself has surfaced.
Representatives with ICE have alleged Salgado Araujo "weaponized his vehicle" before an agent shot him in self-defense, a claim disputed by the others in the van with him, including his brother, Victor Salgado Araujo. ICE’s account echoes what has become a common refrain from the federal agency after fatal shootings by its agents, including one earlier this week in Maine.
Reporters were not allowed inside the visitation, but guests called the services emotional and beautiful. Some of Salgado Araujo's construction equipment was on display. So were two Mexican soccer jerseys with the name "L Salgado" monogrammed on them, according to two guests.
For Lupe Ochoa, who grew up in the East End neighborhood, she said it was surreal to see the community come together like this. She knew Salgado Araujo's son Ronaldo as "Ronnie," her high school classmate.
"I call him Ronnie, I've always known him as that," she told Houston Public Media. "He always fought for what was right. And that always inspired us as a friend group ... It makes me inspired to want to speak out for everybody else. It's a shame."
Though she never met Salgado Araujo himself, she knew he was Ronaldo's father and recognized his name immediately after she learned of his killing.
"It's so weird seeing somebody that I knew since middle school just speaking out because his father got killed for looking like somebody," she said, referencing reporting that immigration agents may have been looking for somebody else when they pursued Salgado Araujo.
Breni Rodriguez, who has lived in Houston since moving from El Salvador, said the shooting struck an emotional nerve. Her own father died earlier this year, and she recognized a similar grief at the loss of a parent among Salgado Araujo's family.
"He was a worker just like [Salgado Araujo] was," Rodriguez said. "We come here wanting a better future for us, for our future generations, and it's so sad that this is how things have to end when we are the backbone of this country."
The funeral was somber. But for some who attended, like Kathryn Danas, it was also a moment of anger and galvanization.
Danas said her motivation for attending the funeral was simple.
"Because of my skin color. Because I have two sons that I worry about," she said. "I'm here to show face and show up. And it's not easy to do, because we're in fear. We're in fear because of what's going on."
As a single mother, she said she saw the loss for Salgado Araujo's children.
"Seeing these boys raised so beautifully by a man who worked hard and gave them the best he could with the little he had, that's my hero," she said. "That's my hero, and he needs to be respected and never forgotten."
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