A man was fatally shot during a vehicle stop on the outskirts of Chicago by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers after attempting to flee the scene, according to officials, and another officer was injured during the altercation.
Ice released the following statement after the shooting: “This morning in Chicago, Ice officers were conducting targeted local enforcement activity during a vehicle stop, the suspect resisted and attempted to drive his vehicle into the arrest team, striking an officer and subsequently dragging him as he fled the scene, fearing for his life, the officer discharged his firearm and struck the subject. Both the officer and subject immediately received medical treatment and were transferred to a local hospital.”
It continued: “The suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital, the officer sustained severe injuries and is in stable condition, viral social media videos and activists encouraging illegal aliens to resist law enforcement not only spread misinformation, but also undermine public safety, the safety of our officers and those being apprehended.”
The target of the stop in Franklin Park, to the west of Chicago, was Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant with a history of reckless driving, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“We are praying for the speedy recovery of our law enforcement officer. He followed his training, used appropriate force and properly enforced the law to protect the public and law enforcement,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary. She then echoed the statement by Ice regarding the dangers of social media videos.
The incident involved a traffic stop to check on what Ice said was an undocumented immigrant. It happened about six miles from where, separately, a day-long protest had been unfolding outside an Ice processing center in Broadview, Illinois, where demonstrators clashed with federal government agents on Friday morning. There were reports a demonstrator was shot in the leg with a pepper ball by enforcement officers.
A worker at a tire shop across the street from where Villegas-Gonzales was killed spoke to BreakThrough News, according to the outlet, saying: “I thought it was your run-of-the-mill car crash, because car crashes have been here all the time, so I thought nothing of it. That’s when my boss came out and told me, ‘Hey, something happened here.’ And I saw a huge police presence, military presence and FBI presence.
“So right now, the community is a bit scared about Ice and the military operations here in Chicago,” he added. “Franklin Park is heavily Latino and Polish, so I didn’t know that they were going to come here one day. It’s just, once it happens, you’re in shock, like you can’t believe your eyes.”
He also provided reporters with security footage from outside the shop, which included audio of what sounds like gunshots.
Police taped off the area and behind patrol vehicles a grey sedan could be seen that the man had been driving. It had crashed into a parked truck, and it could be seen that the driver’s side window was open.
A video taken by a bystander and uploaded to Chitown Crimechasers on Facebook shows Ice agents trying to get into Villegas-Gonzalez’ car. Yanking the car handle and eventually breaking the glass and unlocking the car from the inside.
In a statement, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) denounced the fatal shooting, saying: “We grieve for Silverio’s family and neighbors. His killing at the hands of ICE is a display of the extreme, aggressive tactics that ICE has been carrying out in its operations across Chicagoland this week ... This killing is the latest in a mounting pile of evidence that Trump’s mass deportation machine is completely out of control.”
The activist group further called out Ice’s immigration crackdown: “ICE’s operations, which today resulted in ICE killing Mr Villegas-Gonzalez, jeopardize the safety of everyone, citizens and non-citizens alike, and disrupt the very fabric of our communities … In a moment like this it is critical that we all exercise our rights and look out for our neighbors.”
A neighbor who did not want to be identified spoke highly of Villegas-Gonzalez with a small group of reporters and mentioned that Villegas-Gonzalez was a hard worker and a good neighbor.
One time, the neighbor recalled, Villegas-Gonzalez scraped the neighbor’s car, came over and offered to fix it. The neighbor said it’s been distressing to see social media posts about Villegas-Gonzalez.
“It’s such a sickening world that everybody’s celebrating his death,” the neighbor said. It’s just wrong, you know? He’s a human being.”
When asked about Ice’s arrest of Villegas-Gonzalez and the agency having said Villegas-Gonzalez tried to drive into officers, the neighbor said Villegas-Gonzalez “was scared 100%” and didn’t speak English.
Meanwhile, in nearby Broadview, demonstrations began at dawn and were set to continue until the evening. By late morning, several dozen people had assembled outside the facility, according to CBS News Chicago.
These incidents and some others are part of a surge of immigration enforcement into parts of the Chicago area in the last week as part of a crackdown pledged by Donald Trump, as neighborhoods have braced. He has threatened to send in troops to deal with crime in the kind of unilateral action taken by the administration in WashingtonDC, ongoing, and Los Angeles earlier in the year following protests there against Ice raids.
This would be expressly against the wishes of Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, and the state governor, JB Pritzker, both Democrats, who have condemned the saber rattling and called for resistance. By Friday troops had not been sent.
Crowds in Broadview could be heard and seen on video shouting “shame on you” towards officers and the facility.
At one point, a reporter observed Ice officers forcing protesters back while clearing the way for agency vehicles to pass through the crowd. Tensions escalated further as protesters and Ice officers began facing off directly.
Another reporter shared a video from that scene, writing: “I am at Broadview Village ICE detention center where demonstrators just chased Chicago US Army Special Reaction Teams (SRTs) as they were leaving the building.” The footage shows Ice personnel retreating as demonstrators pursue them, shouting.
