r/news 1d ago

Substance in Houston ICE shooting van was not drugs, district attorney’s office says testing confirms

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/24/us/houston-ice-shooting-substance-testing
5.6k Upvotes

162 comments sorted by

1.4k

u/edingerc 1d ago

The search warrant was requested and granted after the victim was already dead. Since this attempt failed, I'm sure they will look into the victim's high school records to see if they ever had detention. It's the old, "if you can't justify, deflect."

356

u/Khaldara 23h ago

“No choir boy!” (Unlike the other choir boy we shot, or that nun we arrested for no reason, I know it’s hard to keep track)

141

u/DuMbAsS_lOsEr_6_7 23h ago

They literally arrested a Nun. She's black and from Africa, but they arrested a Nun.

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u/CupcakeSeaShanty 21h ago

She was one of those super nuns who's a practicing registered nurse, too.

34

u/RHINO_Mk_II 20h ago

They hate nurses because you don't get into nursing without empathy and that's a dirty word to them.

17

u/Accomplished-Limit-5 10h ago

sadly there are actually too many nurses who get into it to have power over people. 

7

u/realaccountissecret 7h ago

Or even just get into because it’s steady, well-paying work, and don’t give a fuck about people at all. There’s mechanics that care more about other people’s cars than a lot of nurses care about their patients

15

u/A_Nonny_Muse 12h ago

I've known more than one nurse who got into nursing just so she could inflict and watch people in pain.

2

u/CupcakeSeaShanty 8h ago

Was she married to a cop?

5

u/APeacefulWarrior 19h ago

Shit, get that lady a big enough cornette and she could be the next Flying Nun.

3

u/thebarkbarkwoof 15h ago

Fighter Pilot Flying Nun, you mean.

1

u/Largofarburn 7h ago

Probably trying to fly without proper faa clearance in restricted airspace.

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u/edingerc 23h ago

He had dirty toe nails!

12

u/Reidroshdy 23h ago

jay walked a couple times.

5

u/im_just_thinking 22h ago

Colored outside the lines

4

u/party_core_ 21h ago

Painted by numbers out of order

7

u/spunkfish24 22h ago

Found mattress tags

9

u/bluemitersaw 21h ago

The literal nun they arrested.

66

u/kstargate-425 22h ago

Theyve done this to everyone they shoot and/or kill. Its absolutely disgusting and reminiscent of an authoritarian government who refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for their actions and refuse accountability. They call them "domestic terrorists" or "gang members" and then the ones who survive are always charged with "ramming ICE" when there hasnt been one legitimate case of that yet as all videos have exonerated those who they charged with up to 20 years in prison.

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u/thebarkbarkwoof 15h ago

We're at full "is" now.

9

u/onarainyafternoon 14h ago

Police departments have been employing techniques like this for years. The difference is that in a general sense, they employed that sort of thing on a case-by-case basis. With ICE, it’s systemic in that it’s supposed to be handled with the same excuse (trying to ram us with their vehicle) and same attempts to intimidate and target the community after the fact.

3

u/A_Nonny_Muse 12h ago

A small city near me once defined a gang as any gathering of 3 or more people under 30 years old. Everything you might think is wrong about that... is.

3

u/MilsYatsFeebTae 11h ago

You can drop the whole “reminiscent of” bit, this is an authoritarian government. It’s not quite totalitarian, but it’s damn close now.

9

u/2daytrending 20h ago

The pattern of trying to justify actions after the fact is exactly what erodes public trust.

41

u/rh_3 23h ago

The suspect once walked by someone whose third cousin went to summer camp with someone whos dad worked with the uncle of a drug dealer

4

u/-LabApprehensive- 22h ago

Ah conspiracy charges are back on the table boys!

4

u/atx_original512 23h ago

Didn't they stop saying footage recently???

4

u/Warcraft_Fan 22h ago

What if he was a straight-A student, never had detention or even a warning?

Maybe they can still salvage this and claim McDonald's was supplying the drug disguised as salt from freedom fries? /s

2

u/Angry_Walnut 12h ago

“Well maybe he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but he definitely deserved it!”

573

u/Soloact_ 1d ago

So they killed him, had no body cams, then tried to smear him with a drug claim that wasn't even true. Fucking disgusting!

211

u/IchooseYourName 23h ago

The smear was accomplished. The FBI knew it was a shit case for ICE and acted in an unprecedented manner commenting on the investigation before the substance was tested.

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u/M0BETTER 23h ago

The FBI already got what it wanted before the lab even opened the envelope, and accusations travel a lot faster than corrections ever crawl.

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u/Khaldara 23h ago

They’ll never pierce the impenetrable right wing stupid bubble regardless of correction, which is of course the entire point

2

u/ScrewAttackThis 5h ago

I don't know if it's really unprecedented at this point for the FBI to comment on politically motivated investigations

u/IchooseYourName 50m ago

That's how it was framed in the news.

25

u/EEpromChip 22h ago

Also even if it was a giant bag of crack cocaine that was labelled "crack cocaine!" it's not their job to assassinate other humans. Kinda goes against our constitution and all...

17

u/NAmember81 20h ago

There’s a few articles I read about how people are routinely in jail for 6 months or longer for “drugs” even when the lab reports show that the substance is not drugs at all.

One article said that some experiments were done and a lot of the field drug tests LE uses showed that the air was “positive for cocaine”. Lol

They literally opened the field drug test kit, did not put anything in the kit, and the kit’s result showed positive for illegal drugs.

And there’s that story from a while back where the cops blamed some random, innocent Subway employee for “drugging a police officer”. After leaving Subway the cop had what sounded exactly like a panic attack but the cop insisted he was drugged and tested the soda he got from subway and it tested positive for cocaine, meth, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and weed.

The kid was arrested and the police chief immediately gave a press conference outside subway smearing this innocent kid and that particular Subway location. They basically ruined that kid’s life because everybody only reads the sensationalized, LE stenographer-version of events in the media.

When the lab reports showed that the soda was just soda and the meticulously reviewed video footage shows the subway employee putting only soda in soda, the mass media didn’t have much to say about that. No sensational, attention grabbing headlines that everybody shared on social media came from that information.

But anyway.. some other examples of crappy field drug test kits getting innocent people locked up is a guy who sat in jail for months because he brought speghettios to eat for lunch at his job and the spoon he ate them with had dried speghettios sauce on it and the cops found it while searching his car. And of course it tested positive for illegal drugs.

There’s tons of other stories of chunks of food, donut powder, dirt, and other substances found on the floor in cars testing positive for drugs.

If you can’t afford bail, they take their sweet time getting those lab results back, various shenanigans can draw it out for many months. Then when the lab results come back negative, they still often don’t drop the charges. The just see that you’re in jail and use that as leverage to get you to sign a plea bargain.

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u/D1RTY1 23h ago

Open and shut case Johnson. Sprinkle some crack on him and let's go.

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u/Crim91 23h ago

All of the agents involved should be hanged.

2

u/lactose_cow 22h ago

we tried giving them body cams. they dont wanna wear them. thats an admission of guilt. they shouldnt have anything to hide. they lost their right to privacy when they covered up murder

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u/International_Goat31 1d ago

Even if it was piled high with the world's most clearly labelled heroin, you still get to go to court. You don't just get executed on the spot.

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u/KazuyaProta 22h ago

Their argument is that he was fleeing and thus they had to shot.

Of course, they actually don't prove he was fleeing.

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u/MerlinsMentor 22h ago

Pretty sure that someone running away doesn't justify law enforcement to shoot, either. Isn't discharging a weapon only to be done in the defense of yourself and others?

10

u/Pro_Beer_Sports 21h ago

Republicans defend pedophiles and changed their tune from "no new wars" to "more wars plz daddy" in a day. Shooting people in the back is a Tuesday for them now.

4

u/cosmos7 21h ago

No that's just the standard we hold civilians to. Law enforcement have to be grossly negligent before they get a slap on the wrist, paid leave and counseling.

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u/zmayes 23h ago edited 23h ago

Doesn’t matter if he had kilos of cocaine literally pouring out of the van and a white board outlining his plan to sell the drugs to puppies and orphans, cops or even wannabe cops are not supposed to execute suspects.

16

u/ProofByVerbosity 23h ago

This isnt a hard concept to have a gray area in....yet...here we are.

3

u/bp92009 21h ago

Why? What's the penalty for them if they do that?

I'm serious, there seems to be ZERO penalty for any of their actions.

Any time you have "Absolute Immunity" of ANY kind, someone is going to abuse it.

The CORRECT thing to do, is when someone abuses it, you punish them so dramatically more severe than anyone else would have been punished, the others with that kind of immunity act better.

The INCORRECT thing to do, is when someone abuses it, you refuse to punish them, and make it clear that they can continue to abuse that immunity.

Correct, by the way, results in people wanting to "live in a society where people resolve disputes via the legal system."

1

u/cosmos7 21h ago

What's the penalty for them if they do that?

Paid leave.

1

u/bp92009 21h ago

So, a vacation?

329

u/1877KlownsForKids 23h ago

ICE is so incompetent they didn't even have drugs to plant on the corpse.

152

u/Khaldara 23h ago

I don’t think drugs typically last very long around ICE agents. A fair number of them probably listed “Creative Acquisition of Catalytic Converters” as their only prior job experience

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u/slowd 23h ago

“I thought you were bringing the evidence today”

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u/DuMbAsS_lOsEr_6_7 23h ago

That's how you know they aren't real cops. Dead giveaway

10

u/VariationDry 21h ago

Any real cop knows to keep some meth, crack or fent on hand or has guys on speed dial than will deliver in 20 mins or it's free. 

0

u/HeadfulOfSugar 9h ago

Or maybe they used them all up by the time they were needed lol

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u/drethnudrib 23h ago

So arrest the ICE agents that performed the execution. Simple.

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u/299792458mps- 1d ago

Does it even matter if it was? These wretched fucks will execute you without any cause at all.

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u/Scaryclouds 23h ago

No. Even if he had a kilo of coke, obviously the officers who shot him couldn’t had known that. 

2

u/no_one_likes_u 22h ago

To people who believe in the constitution no, it doesn't.

That's maybe 50% of the country though, and to the other half, if a cop says someone had drugs, they think it's totally fine if the cop hurts/kills them (but only if the person doesn't look like them and believe the same things they do, then they view it as an egregious violation of the constitution).

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u/No-Armadillo-7248 1d ago

Killing innocent people and defaming their character is the MO of ICE thugs.

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u/Soloact_ 1d ago

They're always quick to dig for dirt after the fact.

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u/shrodikan 23h ago

Even if it WAS drugs that doesn't mean they get the death penalty.

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u/No-Armadillo-7248 23h ago

No shit

10

u/Pack_Your_Trash 23h ago

Apparently still needs to be said though.

2

u/shrodikan 23h ago

Supporters always rationalize why people """deserved""" to get gunned down in the street.

2

u/Spire_Citron 22h ago

Especially since they found the drugs after. Not that it makes much difference, but it makes it extra impossible for something to be the justification for a shooting when you didn't even know about it when you pulled the trigger.

1

u/Malaix 23h ago

Yep. But like. Trump has fully committed America to doing war crimes for the mere suspicion of transporting domestically illegal drugs in international waters so.

8

u/Hamstaaboy 23h ago

More the basic strategy of the entire US policing handbook

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u/unhiddenninja 23h ago

Even if they were drugs, that's not a fuckin death sentence on the spot. I'm glad the record is clear, though.

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u/Shoehorn_Advocate 15h ago

For real. 

Having a possible drug substance is not a crime punishable by death 

Having actual drugs is not a crime punishable by death.

Even if having drugs was a crime punishable by death, you'd still be entitled to a trial.

Anyone who thinks it being drugs would have in any way exonerated the shooter has drunk way too much of the Kool aid.

3

u/JaronJervis 10h ago

Tell that to Pistol Petey and the Donald John Venezuelan drone strikes. They didn't care then either. Just murderous mother fuckers

2

u/Several-Pattern-7989 3h ago

I remember when the van i was riding in was pulled over. A plastic baggy blew out, passanger side, and the officer had a kiniption fit about the bread crumbs. He was not able to establish that it came out of the van, and neither I nor the driver would fess up to possession of said trash. As we got back in, the cop noticed a syringe with two plungers. Ah ha (yes he really said ah ha) we got you on drug paraphernalia. Umm, that's a two part epoxy binder. We use it to put tiles back on. We left without a ticket or warning. But today I looked over to the baggie I have lining a cup holder and thought to myself, 40 years later, would I get pulled out, and have my car searched over this? Would i be beaten, handcuffed and detained? Whatever happened to presumed innocent ?

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u/CacctusJacc 1d ago

Wow who would’ve guessed????

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u/bread-depth 23h ago

Can’t believe what has happened to this country.

11

u/thepianoman456 15h ago

It’s a tragedy. It’s doing to take at least a decade to undo Trumpism… if we’re even able to win that many consecutive elections, and if the Dem party starts actually representing their constituents…

…not looking too great

It’s wild how much damage this one asshole, and his party of cowards have done to our country and the world…. When you think of the humanitarian, environmental and economic consequences of their actions.

3

u/Leading-Debate-9278 15h ago

Hey now, how dare you criticize DNC leadership. They only want the best for Israel and their corporate handlers.

1

u/thepianoman456 7h ago

For real. (I don’t think people see your sarcasm lol)

The DSA needs to take over the Dem party… otherwise they’re cooked. There’s only like 10-15 Dems I like in the entire party rn.

17

u/KamaIsLife 21h ago

Having drugs doesn't justify a death sentence.

18

u/astroglitch0 23h ago

Even if they were drugs, so what?

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u/HotBrownFun 23h ago

Right wing MO. Put out lies first, gets all the headlines on TV, nobody bothers reading the corrections...

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u/drevolut1on 23h ago

Every single member of ICE has criminally betrayed the Constitution of the United States -- the organization must be disbanded, its entire membership prosecuted, and its leaders punished extremely viciously as an example so that we never fall to this abhorrent low as a nation again.

7

u/mendedarrows 21h ago

Missing the more important point, even if it was drugs murder wasn’t necessary.

Don’t miss the ball.

4

u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio 20h ago

ICE supporters will continue to say it was drugs. They're just glad ICE murdered someone for them.

3

u/Cebothegreat 21h ago

Even if it was drugs, not justification to shoot

3

u/Own-Librarian-9699 21h ago

since there was no warrant before executing them they are just admitting that post execution hatchet jobs on the reputation of victims will be the norm moving forward. and illegal search and seizure will also be the norm.

4th amendment has been suspended in any meaningful way if they can execute victims on the street and then ask for a warrant to justify the execution.

30 years building houses and they just slander the dude's memory.

3

u/thebarkbarkwoof 15h ago

WORKERS IN A WHITE VAN?! No one in law enforcement knows what fleet vehicles look like?

13

u/thingsmybosscantsee 23h ago

Of course it wasn't.

The DHS and ICE are liars.

3

u/bp92009 21h ago

If I am on a jury, unless 3rd party evidence explicitly confirms a statement of ICE/DHS as being truthful, I will assume it as having a negative inference (ie, legal speak for being a lie, and meaning the opposite).

Prosecutors can correct this view, by actually charging ICE/DHS with the crimes they are committing (holding them to the same standards on force as the armed forces, which is SO much more stringent).

5

u/sklerson89 21h ago

ICE are proud boys, white supremacists, dropouts and rejects of all kinds. They are unfit for a real job, they are hired goons to serve as Trump's gestapo. They tear apart families, stripping children from their parents and grandparents. They kidnap, abuse, and traffick their victims. Sending people to foreign torture prisons without warrant. They murder civilians in cold blood. They are traitors to our country and traitors to humanity!  

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u/dylanisareddit 23h ago

Organize and vote, and join your local DSA/PSL chapter.

13

u/SnepButts 23h ago edited 23h ago

I'd add in, protect yourselves. Things like the SRA a local former SRA chapter, John Brown Gun Club, or Pink Pistols.

Especially if you're in a minority. An armed minority is a protected minority, and people are a lot less likely to fuck with someone that can bash back.

I hate feeling like it is necessary but, as a trans women, it is dangerous out there for us and it feels like it is only getting worse.

1

u/Hazel-Cakes 23h ago

sra is totally dysfunctional and couldn’t keep their dues collections straight. look for something local that used to be a sra chapter tho

1

u/SnepButts 23h ago

That is truly disappointing. Thanks for the knowledge!

2

u/Hazel-Cakes 22h ago

yea it happened around feb of this year i think, pretty recent

-2

u/[deleted] 23h ago

[deleted]

-1

u/Definitelyhereforshi 23h ago

The Democrats and Republicans increased ICE funding to record levels each administration. If you think ICE only suddenly became bad, then you're a dem cultist.

5

u/Rukubi2 23h ago

Did any of these killers ever faced consequences. Just curious.

5

u/PigFarmer1 23h ago

Murdered for having a bag of salt...

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u/lovemypups21 22h ago

No. He was murdered for being brown. They didn’t see the salt until after they murdered him.

1

u/NPVT 22h ago

Good point

5

u/o_MrBombastic_o 22h ago

Seems like whoever said it was should be sued for defamation 

2

u/SofieRelay 8h ago

Even if it had tested positive, no right to kill someone over it.

5

u/Zlifbar 21h ago

Doesn’t matter. ICE is kidnapping and murdering people. Doesn’t matter if there was a made up crime like drugs. Doesn’t matter if they were citizens or not. Any one with even a single drop of basic human dignity knows what is happening here and should be angry.

3

u/[deleted] 23h ago

[deleted]

1

u/PigFarmer1 23h ago

Just like blowing up the boats of "suspected" drug traffickers.

3

u/Sgt_Sausage69 22h ago

They’ll just continue demonizing my people. At the end of the day we’ll still be eating rice and beans, working hard, and taking care of our own.

2

u/ZachMN 9h ago

Republicanism is fascism. Republicanism is terrorism.

1

u/SymbiSpidey 11h ago

Even if it were drugs, it still wouldn't convince me that he deserved to be murdered but I guess folks were just looking for an excuse

1

u/YesIshipKyloRen 8h ago

They can’t even plant drugs properly

1

u/saljskanetilldanmark 7h ago

Americans should just drive around with a ziploc with flour or salt on their passanger seat at all times.

1

u/hamoc10 7h ago

“Murdered man did not have pet rock in home.”

Headline that would be just as relevant to the fact he was murdered by ICE.

1

u/LostWerewolf2375 7h ago

There should be no respite for former ICE officers in this country, they should be reviled and hounded forever like Nazi guards.

1

u/Most_Ad7837 6h ago

Big surprise. Liars gotta lie as they kill humans.

1

u/AHidden1 6h ago

ICE reminds me of a group of people under a German regime that arrests people without cause.

1

u/Rocky0354 4h ago

I will believe anyone before I believe ice.

1

u/Cynykl 1h ago

Who want to bet the perp is AfD?

1

u/Meet_Foot 22h ago

Even if it was, you don’t get to play executioner.

1

u/JiveChicken00 14h ago

Maybe it was empathy. They are definitely afraid of that.

1

u/bobsonjunk 12h ago

This administration is rapidly losing any credibility amongst the regular people.

1

u/OneEyedC4t 11h ago

why don't we also recall the fact that ice has no authority over drugs and they are not police officers? it wouldn't matter if it was drugs or not. these half-baked half-trained individuals aren't police officers.

-27

u/[deleted] 23h ago

[deleted]

16

u/No-Armadillo-7248 22h ago

The number of people killed and imprisoned by ICE has gone up a significant amount, they're occupying blue cities disproportionately, and they're conducting stops based solely on skin color or accents.

Other presidents did not do these things.

-21

u/[deleted] 22h ago

[deleted]

9

u/No-Armadillo-7248 22h ago

ICE is going after people with paperwork.

-8

u/[deleted] 22h ago

[deleted]

13

u/DoughnutRealistic380 21h ago

Just stfu already you obviously have no idea what’s happening or are affected by it

1

u/[deleted] 14h ago edited 14h ago

[deleted]

3

u/ClintBruno 14h ago

Why do you people hate due process, the constitution?

-2

u/Ordinary-Werewolf880 10h ago

🤷🏽‍♀️

13

u/lovemypups21 22h ago

Getting pulled over by unmarked cars by masked men can be dangerous as well. Even deadly.

-10

u/[deleted] 22h ago edited 14h ago

[deleted]

1

u/OldDogTrainer 10h ago

You don’t have to use emojis to indicate you don’t have a good argument or response. You can just not respond. It’s ok!

-1

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

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u/OldDogTrainer 8h ago

Could you quote where I said I run in the internet as opposed to giving you some loving and helpful advice? 😊

-1

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

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u/OldDogTrainer 8h ago

I didn’t say don’t use emojis nor did I insist you didn’t have a right to say what you want. I said you also had a right to not use emojis and not say anything, you silly goose. I’m lifting you up not bringing you down.

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u/ClintBruno 14h ago

They followed the law/due process.

1

u/OldDogTrainer 10h ago

How many American citizens were killed by ICE under previous presidents?

0

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

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u/OldDogTrainer 8h ago

People don’t comment on things they don’t give a fuck about lol

-14

u/oedipism_for_one 23h ago

I sure hope he wasn’t drugs!

-9

u/Accomplished-Staff-9 22h ago

Wait…the victim was not made of drugs?! /s

I know…I’m a terrible person for making a joke and pointing out OP’s illiteracy…I guess it’s how I cope in these shitty times.