About 200 people packed a sweltering South Austin church Saturday evening to mourn Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Houston homebuilder fatally shot by a federal immigration officer. They heard local immigrants describe how detention and deportation have shaped their families.

Some carried white flowers into Wildflower Unitarian Universalist Church on East Oltorf Street. People used bilingual programs as fans while late arrivals stood along the walls.

After an opening prayer in English and Spanish, Sulma Franco, an immigrant from Guatemala, said families across Central Texas were living with the fear of arrest and separation.

“It’s impossible to say that we feel safe here in Texas, because they have the cruelest laws against immigrants,” Franco said through an interpreter.

Kayla Estevez said she fled her home country seeking safety for herself and her children. She said her daughter is buried in the U.S. and wondered whether immigration enforcement could keep her from visiting the grave.

“Will I still be able to take flowers to her?” Estevez asked through an interpreter. “Will I still be able to go to work and come back and hug my kids?”

Speakers at the vigil connected their experiences to the death of Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father of three who had lived in the U.S. for about 35 years. Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, was driving his brother and two other workers to a construction job Tuesday when an ICE officer shot him during a vehicle stop in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood.

The Department of Homeland Security has said Salgado Araujo attempted to run over an officer, prompting the officer to fire in self-defense. The men in the van dispute that account, according to their attorney. DHS has acknowledged Salgado Araujo was not the person agents were seeking. Federal investigators and Harris County prosecutors are reviewing the shooting.

Leticia Juarez said she and her husband were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June 2025 and taken away in separate vehicles. She suffered a severe panic attack on the way to an Austin detention center, she said, but officers didn’t call an ambulance.

“Today, I am alone here,” Juarez said in Spanish. “My husband was deported. My family was separated.”

Organizer Juany Torres said those fears can be harder to see in Texas when state and local law enforcement agencies cooperate with ICE.

“So we might not see these huge masses of ICE agents in our streets, but they’re around,” Torres said.

Lorianne Willett

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KUT News

A state law that took effect this year requires county sheriffs who operate jails to request agreements allowing their departments to enforce federal immigration law. New Austin police rules say officers who learn that someone in their custody has an ICE administrative warrant should contact ICE “when operationally feasible.”

Body and dash cam videos obtained by The Texas Newsroom have shown Texas Department of Public Safety special agents breaking state police rules by wearing face-concealing masks during an ICE operation. The investigative report demonstrates the quick and nearly invisible way the vast majority of people are detained and deported in Texas.

Torres said the vigil was intentionally held the same day as a Houston vigil hosted by Service Employees International Union Texas, where two of Salgado Araujo’s sons spoke. Although organizers left their logos off the Austin flyer, Torres credited AFSCME Local 1624, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Workers Defense, IBEW, the Texas AFL-CIO, the Austin Central Labor Council, Grassroots Leadership and the Austin Sanctuary Network with helping organize the vigil.

The program ended with the crowd answering “presente” as organizers read the names of people they said had died in ICE custody or during enforcement operations. Estevez put the evening’s message more simply: “We all deserve to get back home.”

Lorianne Willett

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KUT News

AUSTIN, Texas – One person is dead after an officer-involved shooting in downtown Austin Saturday.

What we know:

One person is dead after an officer-involved shooting in downtown Austin Saturday morning following a foot pursuit, according to the Austin Police Department.

Police said officers first received calls shortly after 8 a.m. reporting that a white man was pointing a handgun at several people along the trail near Lamar Boulevard and West Cesar Chavez Street.

About three hours later, an officer located the suspect near the TownLake YMCA in the 1100 block of West Cesar Chavez Street. Police said the suspect fled on foot, leading officers on a chase.

What they’re saying:

According to APD, officers repeatedly ordered the suspect to drop the handgun, but he refused to comply.

“The officers gave commands for the individual to drop the firearm. The subject refused to stop, refused to drop the firearm,” an APD spokesperson said. “At one point, the officers caught up with the individual. Unfortunately, the officers were faced with a situation in which they had fired rounds, striking the subject.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this happen since I’ve been coming here in over 10 years,” said a man named Salvador, who goes to the Townlake YMCA almost every day. He says he was grateful no one else was injured in the shooting, considering it was the facility’s busiest day of the week.

“It’s difficult to even walk in the place because there’s just so many parents and children at this YMCA on Saturdays,” he told FOX 7. “It’s very scary. Not only do I go to the YMCA here, but I also run on the trail, which is right across the street. I run on a trail there maybe two or three times a week. And if it’s a nice day, there are thousands of people running on the trails on Saturday morning because the weather is really mild, and they can get their walk in or their run in. So, it’s terrifying.”

Assistant Police Chief Lee Rogers says that there will be two investigations into the incident, including an administrative investigation conducted in conjunction with the Austin Police Oversight and a criminal investigation with APU Special Investigations Unit and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. 

Dig deeper:

Police said officers immediately rendered medical aid after the shooting, but the suspect died from his injuries.

No officers or members of the public were injured during the incident.

Authorities have not released the identity of the man who was killed.

Police have not identified the officers involved in the shooting or said how many officers fired their weapons.

The officer-involved shooting remains under investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Two police officers shot and killed an armed man after a brief foot chase in downtown Austin, Texas, hours after multiple people reported that he was pointing a handgun at people near a busy trail system, according to officials.

Police began receiving 911 calls shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday about a white man armed with a handgun near the trails around Lamar Boulevard and Cesar Chavez Street, according to Police Chief Lee Rogers. Callers reported that the man was pointing the weapon at multiple people throughout the area.

Officers searched the downtown area for several hours before encountering a man matching the description at about 11 a.m. He was initially on a scooter when officers approached and attempted to detain him and question him about the earlier calls.

The man left the scooter behind and ran away, leading officers on a short foot chase. Officers saw that he had a firearm and repeatedly ordered him to stop and drop the weapon, but he refused.

When the officers caught up with him, both opened fire and struck him. Rogers did not explain what immediately caused the officers to shoot, but said more than one round was fired.

Officers provided medical aid, but the man was pronounced dead from his injuries.

Rogers said he could not confirm reports that the man was homeless. The shooting is being investigated administratively with Austin Police Oversight and criminally by the department’s Special Investigations Unit and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.