A US immigration agent fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday morning as he was driving to work, officials said.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially claimed Salgado attempted to evade arrest and rammed an ICE vehicle, prompting the officer to fire in self-defense. However, on Thursday, DHS admitted Salgado was not the intended target of the operation.

DHS said agents had seen two white vans at a surveilled address weeks prior. On Tuesday, they spotted a white van with an individual resembling the target and initiated the stop. The individual turned out to be Salgado.

The agents involved were not wearing body cameras, and no footage of the incident has been released. DHS stated that half of its field officers are currently equipped with body cameras, with the remainder expected to receive them within 60 days.

Salgado, an undocumented immigrant, had worked as a builder in Houston for 30 years, had no criminal record, and was close to obtaining a work permit. He was driving three coworkers to a worksite at the time of the shooting.

The killing sparked protests in Houston, and four Democratic members of Congress have called for an independent investigation. Mexico's government announced it will file criminal complaints in the US over the deaths of 14 Mexican citizens in ICE custody and three others during ICE arrest operations.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk