The ICE agent who witnesses say fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston nearly three months ago has been identified as Gregory Feathers, even as the federal government has continued withholding his name from the public and members of Congress, The Texas Tribune reported.
The news site identified Feathers through an official familiar with the investigation, federal records and a witness identification. His name also appeared in an ICE incident report mistakenly released by the U.S. Attorney's Office, which identified him as one of two arresting agents. Records show Feathers called paramedics after the July 7 shooting.
Feathers, who had previously retired, was rehired within the past two years, overlapping with the Trump administration's recruitment of former ICE officers as it expanded deportation enforcement, The Texas Tribune reports.
The Department of Homeland Security maintains the shooting was in self-defense, while the Harris County district attorney is convening a grand jury that could consider criminal charges.
Salgado Araujo was not the original target of the ICE operation. Agents pursuing three Guatemalan men spotted his van after identifying only the first two letters of the license plate they were seeking, according to the Tribune. After checking Salgado Araujo's plate and determining that the Mexican immigrant was in the country illegally, agents pursued him. He had no criminal record.
His brother Victor, who was in the passenger seat, told the Tribune that an agent fired through his open window, striking Salgado Araujo in the abdomen. DHS has said Salgado Araujo drove toward officers and that the agent fired defensively. None of the four ICE agents involved had body or dashboard cameras, according to the Tribune.
The identification follows months of demands from Salgado Araujo's family for greater transparency. His sons testified before lawmakers in Washington last week, seeking an independent investigation and access to evidence. "Why can they be protected by anonymity while my brother and I are in front of cameras?" they asked.
FIEL Houston, an immigrant-led civil rights organization that has supported calls for accountability in the case, said identifying the agent was "the first step in the right direction." The group is organizing a gathering at Houston City Hall Tuesday as it awaits the grand jury's findings.
