Federal immigration authorities shot a woman in Chicago on Saturday. This is the second time agents were involved in a shooting since they began Operation Midway Blitz in Illinois earlier this year.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said on Saturday that law enforcement officers were “rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars” prior to the shooting.
Agents weren’t able to move and exited their vehicles, McLaughlin said. Law enforcement officers then fired at the woman, who McLaughlin said was armed with a semi-automatic weapon.
No law enforcement officers were wounded, and the woman who was shot “drove herself to the hospital,” McLaughlin said. However, The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Larry Merritt, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman, said the woman was found on a street and taken to a local hospital. Her condition was fair, the Sun-Times said.
Chicago Police said in a statement to Straight Arrow News that officers responded to the 3900 block of S. Kedzie Ave. for a call of a person shot. While they were on-scene to control traffic and “maintain safety,” CPD added that it is not involved in the incident or investigation, referring all questions to federal authorities.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said after the incident that she was sending more “special operations” to control the scene.
“Reinforcements are on their way,” she said.
Protesters started gathering at the scene of the shooting in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood around noon, The Sun-Times wrote, chanting “ICE go home.” Some threw water bottles. Federal agents used tear gas and pepper balls, causing some protesters to disperse before returning later until leaving around 4 p.m., the newspaper wrote.
Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, said protesters are demanding an investigation into the escalating violence they’ve seen from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They are escalating violence in the city. This is not making anyone safer,” he said.
Added Sigcho-Lopez: “Is that public safety? Is this public safety, ending up with a shooting?”
ICE shoots man in Franklin Park
Last month, in the suburb of Franklin Park, Illinois, an ICE agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez while trying to arrest him.
The Department of Homeland Security said that Villegas-Gonzalez “refused to follow law enforcement commands and drove his car at law enforcement officers,” though local officials say they want an investigation.
Although DHS said at the time an ICE agent was “seriously injured” in the incident, body camera footage later showed that agent describing his wounds as “nothing major,” NBC News reported.
“A man is dead. A community is shaken up. And we are yet again left with more questions than answers,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said.
