More than 200 people gathered Saturday morning to honor Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the man shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents (ICE) this week.

Holding lit candles and "ICE OUT" signs, the group said prayers and mourned Salgado Araujo's death as well as others like Renee Good and Alex Pretti — who had lost their lives during ICE encounters in Minnesota earlier this year.

"It doesn't get easier, and of course I'm still looking for answers," said Salgado Araujo’s son, Ronaldo Salgado. "I've been looking for answers since 7 o'clock a.m. Tuesday."

Two of Salgado Araujo's sons, Ronaldo and Lorenzo Jr., spoke to the crowd. They described their father as a shy, hardworking individual who loved the Chivas Mexican soccer team and raised his sons to value and prioritize their education. Ronaldo said the family has still not received his father's belongings, including his wallet, phone and lunchbox.

"Which I imagine is just sitting there in that van at the FBI facility just rotting away," Ronaldo said. "It was the last meal my mom made for him, and she just wants that lunchbox back."

Salgado Araujo was shot Tuesday morning during what ICE has called a "targeted enforcement operation” in Houston’s East End neighborhood. He was traveling to work with three other men in his car. In a statement to Houston Public Media, a DHS spokesperson did not specify whether any of the people in the vehicle were intended targets, saying one of the individuals in the van "resembled the target." An ICE spokesperson said during the stop, Salgado Araujo was attempting to evade arrest and allegedly rammed his van into an ICE vehicle, causing an ICE agent to fire his weapon.

On Friday, Hugo Balderas, the lawyer representing two of the passengers in Salgado's Araujo's van, said their accounts of the incident are "extremely different" from ICE's version.

“They confirmed that at no point was there ever an ICE agent directly in front of the vehicle,” Balderas said. “They also confirmed that the shots came from the sides, not from the front, which is inconsistent with the ICE statement.”

All three of the passengers that were in the van were detained and taken to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.

U.S. House Representatives Sylvia Garcia, Lizzie Fletcher, Christian Menefee and Al Green expressed condolences to the family and made more calls for an independent investigation into the shooting.

"We can tell you that we will continue to fight for a complete, independent, top-to-bottom investigation to find out exactly what happened," Congresswoman Garcia said. "We are Houston. We are Texas. We will demand more."

Emily Chapman is a pastor at St. Mark's Methodist church in the Heights; she said she felt powerless and worried there wouldn't be any accountability for Salgado Araujo's death.

"This isn't the first time this has happened," Chapman said. "I wanted to be with people and honor the life of a person and think about what we can do to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Community members canvass businesses near site of shooting

Down the street, community members and organizers canvassed the area where the shooting occurred and talked with local business owners about what to do if approached by ICE agents.

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America and Organized Power in Numbers held a gathering at Las Perras Cafe off Harrisburg Boulevard on Saturday.

The crowd of around 30 people handed out business cards with the Houston Rapid Response Network and employees-only signs for businesses to place in their facilities. Some went door-to-door in separate groups while others approached visitors at the memorial near where Araujo was killed.

Mauricio Escobar, an organizer with the nonprofit group Organized Power in Numbers, said it's important for business owners to verify whether agents have the proper authority to search their establishment.

"If you’re a business owner, and ICE comes to your business and they don’t have a signed warrant, you have every single right to not allow them to come in," Escobar said. "You have the right to refuse them. You can kick them out."

According to Escobar, groups such as Organized Power in Numbers are determined to continue efforts in educating and preparing Houston residents for encounters with ICE officers until their presence is removed from the city completely.

View this article in Houston Public Media.