HOUSTON — Two days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during an enforcement operation in Houston, Mayor John Whitmire said Thursday that the Houston Police Department cannot independently investigate the incident because it involves federal law enforcement, while Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare confirmed his office has launched a separate investigation.
Whitmire said the shooting falls under federal jurisdiction and that the city has no access to the evidence.
“This is a time for the federal government to oversee their employees,” Whitmire said. “I’m not going to promise something that I can’t carry out. This is a federal matter, and we have no access to the evidence.”
The Houston Police Department said Whitmire directed the department to remain in contact with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, which is investigating the shooting, and the FBI, which is investigating the incident as a potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer.
The department said federal law does not give local law enforcement independent jurisdiction to investigate federal officers acting within the scope of their official duties.
ICE alleged Salgado Araujo attempted to run over an officer with his vehicle during a targeted enforcement operation, prompting the officer to fire in self-defense. Salgado Araujo’s family disputed that account and joined local Democratic elected officials in calling for an independent investigation.
Legal experts challenged the city’s position.
Thomas Hogan, an assistant professor at South Texas College of Law, said local authorities can investigate whether a federal officer’s use of deadly force complied with state law.
“The minute you exercise deadly force in an unreasonable fashion, you are no longer within the scope of your duties,” Hogan said.
Sandra Guerra Thompson, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said local authorities retain jurisdiction if a federal officer commits a state crime.
“If you have a federal officer who just at point-blank decides to kill someone, that’s a state crime,” Thompson said. “That really can’t be determined until there is an investigation.”
On Thursday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said his office had opened its own investigation into the shooting.
“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. “If someone committed that crime, you don’t get to hide behind a badge.”
Whitmire said he did not want to “play politics” by pursuing a separate city investigation.
Political analysts said the mayor has sought to balance Houston’s Democratic electorate with maintaining working relationships with Republican state and federal officials on immigration enforcement.
Houston City Council member Joaquin Martinez, whose district includes the neighborhood where the shooting occurred, said he asked Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz to have the department’s homicide special investigations unit support the district attorney’s investigation and help gather independent information related to the case.
An HPD spokesperson declined further comment, referring questions to the department’s previous statement.