Lab Testing Finds No Drugs in the Van of the Houston Man Killed by ICE, a Week After the FBI Suggested Meth

The Harris County District Attorney's Office said on July 24, 2026 that it had been notified that lab testing of the substance found in Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's van was 'negative for narcotics/illicit drugs.' Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national and longtime Texas resident, was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a July 7 vehicle stop in east Houston. A week later an FBI special agent filed a search warrant affidavit stating that three small clear plastic bags seen in the van were 'consistent with how users of drugs package controlled substances for distribution, manufacturing, and possession.' Rep. Sylvia Garcia said the substance was electrolyte powder; an attorney for the family said it was granulated salt the crew mixed with water and lemon to work in the summer heat.

The sequence matters because the drug suggestion entered the public record through a federal filing unsealed a day after it was made — unusually fast for a warrant application — and shaped coverage of a fatal shooting before any testing was complete.

The FBI has not publicly released official test results, and the family's attorney said full laboratory results were expected the following Monday. DHS, the FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety are investigating the shooting.