A federal agent shot and killed a man from Mexico during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday morning, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.

The director said that the man had tried to run down the officer who opened fire, though no evidence was immediately provided to support that account.

ICE agents stopped a vehicle around 6:50 a.m. and tried to arrest the driver, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, according to David Venturella, the agency’s acting director. Mr. Venturella described Mr. Araujo as an “illegal alien,” but did not say why he was being sought.

His statement said that the driver had “weaponized his vehicle” and tried to run over the agent, who fired at him. Rustin Rawlings, a spokesman for the Houston Fire Department, said that Mr. Araujo was shot in his abdomen. Mr. Araujo was taken to a hospital and died.

The F.B.I. is leading the investigation of the shooting, Mr. Venturella said.

Several federal law enforcement accounts of shootings by immigration agents this year have since been contradicted by video evidence. They include two fatal shootings in Minneapolis during a crackdown in January, and another in which video undermined the account of an ICE agent, resulting in dropped charges against the man who was shot.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.