Substance present in van after Houston ICE taking pictures wasn’t medication, DA and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia say

Canal Road, wanting east, is seen on July 12, 2026, in Houston. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by an immigration agent on the location on July 7, 2026. Credit score: Texas Tribune / Jon Shapley

The “crystal-like substance” the FBI discovered contained in the van of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — the 52-year-old who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Houston earlier this month — was not a bootleg drug, in accordance with U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, the Harris County District Lawyer’s Workplace and a lawyer representing Salgado Araujo’s brother.

“We are able to now verify that the substance present in Lorenzo Salgado’s van was not a narcotic or every other illicit substance,” Garcia mentioned on social media, with out revealing the supply of the data. “As his household has mentioned all alongside, this was an electrolyte powder to remain hydrated working outdoors within the scorching Texas summer season. The try to forged a shadow over Lorenzo Salgado’s identify has failed.”

District Lawyer Sean Teare’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement that it was not commenting on the take a look at outcomes — which haven’t been publicly launched by the FBI — however that it additionally has “been notified that lab testing of the substance present in Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s van was unfavourable for narcotics/ illicit medication.”

Ruby Powers, a Houston immigration legal professional who’s representing Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, Lorenzo’s brother, mentioned the Texas Division of Public Security, which examined the substance, instructed Salgado Araujo’s household the preliminary take a look at outcomes present it wasn’t an unlawful drug.

Powers added the total lab outcomes will come Monday.

“An unproven declare was allowed to flow into earlier than it was examined, and the way in which it was made public did actual injury, diverting consideration from what really issues on this case. Lorenzo was shot, and no lab report solutions for that,” Powers mentioned.

The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of Texas mentioned it doesn’t have “any further info to offer right now,” and DPS spokesperson Sheridan Nolen mentioned the company just isn’t commenting on the investigation because it’s ongoing. The FBI and the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, that are investigating the taking pictures, didn’t instantly reply to emails from The Texas Tribune searching for remark.

Final week, the FBI, in an affidavit searching for a search warrant, wrote that an agent noticed plastic luggage inside Salgado Araujo’s van and suspected that they contained methamphetamine.

FBI Particular Agent David McNeilly, who filed the search warrantapplication, wrote within the affidavit the three “small clear plastic luggage are in line with how customers of medication package deal managed substances for distribution, manufacturing, and possession.”

The applying for the search warrant was made public a day after it was filed in court docket on Tuesday — unusually quick for federal brokers, who don’t usually publicize such info earlier than a search has been accomplished.

Powers beforehand mentioned the baggies have been crammed with granulated salt that they used to combine with water and lemon to make a home made electrolyte drink whereas working within the Texas summer season warmth.

Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, an legal professional for 2 different passengers within the van, additionally introduced on social media that his shoppers saidthere have been no unlawful medication within the car and that they’d generally carry salt to combine with water and assist forestall cramps.

Salgado Araujo, an undocumented father of three U.S. citizen sons who had began the method to legalize his immigration standing, was on his solution to work at a building web site July 7 along with his brother and two different staff when ICE brokers in unmarked SUVs stopped their van in east Houston. By means of his three a long time as a Houston resident, he stored a clear felony report.

An unnamed ICE spokesperson mentioned that Salgado Araujo “rammed an ICE legislation enforcement car, refused to comply with a number of verbal instructions, and weaponized his car in an try to run over an ICE legislation enforcement officer leading to our officer firing his weapon in self-defense.”

The three males say that Salgado Araujo didn’t attempt to run over anybody and not one of the brokers have been at risk.

“At no second have been the brokers in entrance of the car,” Daniel Tirado Pantoja, a rear passenger within the van, mentioned in his hand-written assertion in Spanish. “Lorenzo (Salgado Araujo) had come to a full cease whereas the brokers fired.”

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, who was additionally within the again seat, wrote in his assertion that Salgado Araujo had already stopped the van earlier than the ICE agent shot him within the abdomen.

Rojas Pliego wrote in his assertion that it’s “unattainable to say that they have been going to get run over. That’s a lie — no officer was behind nor in entrance — they have been on the edges.”

Aaron Reitz, the brand new Assistant Lawyer Basic for the Southern District of Texas, later provided further particulars concerning the pursuit and taking pictures.

Reitz mentioned federal officers have been investigating two Guatemalan males in the identical neighborhood who have been additionally driving a white van. Salgado Araujo and the opposite three males are Mexican residents.

Based on Reitz, as soon as ICE encountered Salgado Araujo’s white van, the driving force initially evaded them earlier than brokers noticed the van once more and surrounded it.

“Preliminary info signifies the driving force shifted the van into reverse, then ahead once more, whereas an officer was partially contained in the van or instantly subsequent to it,” Reitz alleged.

Alex Nguyen and Lomi Kriel contributed to this story.

This text first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

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