According to a search warrant application obtained by “USA Today,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating whether there were drugs hidden inside the truck involved in the incident where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials conducted a traffic stop in Houston on July 7 and shot dead a Mexican illegal immigrant.
On Tuesday, July 14, FBI Special Agent David McNeilly submitted a search warrant application requesting to search the white Ford van involved. In the search warrant application, McNeilly stated, “The United States is currently gathering all facts related to this incident, including the reasons that led the occupants of the vehicle to attempt to flee.”
The FBI Evidence Response Team arrived at the scene after the incident and took photos inside the van, submitting these photos to court as evidence.
McNeilly stated in the application that law enforcement had not yet conducted a search inside the vehicle, but upon his arrival at the scene, he saw several small plastic bags containing “white crystalline substance” that were “clearly visible” – three in the center console and one on the floor of the passenger seat.
McNeilly believed the substance in the bags matched methamphetamine. He mentioned that the evidence of the small bags provided “probable cause” to believe that someone had committed federal crimes.
Federal Magistrate Judge Richard Bennett in Texas approved the search warrant on the same day McNeilly submitted the application, and the application appeared in the federal case docket on July 15.
Court records showed that Bennett did not seal the application.
On the morning of July 7, 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot by ICE agents. His family and colleagues reported that he was on his way to work at the time. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that ICE stopped Salgado Araujo for a traffic check because they mistook him for another illegal immigrant.
Federal officials claimed Salgado Araujo was “driving and attempting to strike” an ICE agent.
However, a man who was in the car with Salgado Araujo denied this claim. Three other men were in the car when the shooting occurred, all uninjured and detained. One of them has been confirmed as the victim’s brother, Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo.
DHS stated that the Office of Inspector General is investigating this shooting incident.
(Authorship based on the report by “USA Today”)