Federal agent in Chicago shot motorist in confrontation, officials say

By JULIE BOSMAN, HAMED ALEAZIZ and ROBERT CHIARITO

A federal agent shot and wounded a motorist in Chicago on Saturday morning, according to federal officials, touching off more protests in the city as tensions rose over the Trump administration’s threat to send troops there.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the agent shot the motorist, a woman who they said was armed with a semiautomatic weapon, after she rammed and boxed in a law enforcement vehicle. The Chicago Police Department said it responded Saturday morning to the area after receiving a report of a person shot. The New York Times could not independently verify details of the encounter.

The wounded individual had non-life-threatening injuries, local officials said. No law enforcement officers were injured in the incident.

On Saturday night, DHS officials identified the suspect as Marimar Martinez. They said she had been discharged from the hospital and that she was in FBI custody.

DHS added that a driver of another vehicle, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, had also been involved in the ramming and that he had been apprehended by law enforcement. It was unclear Saturday whether he or Martinez had been charged and whether they had any representation.

“These attacks on our brave law enforcement officers must end,” Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of Homeland Security, said in the statement.

Ruiz’s mother, Elizabeth Ruiz, said her son told her on the phone in the morning that he had been rammed by federal agents and that they were shooting. Upon hearing that, she said, she raced to the scene. She said an agent grabbed her son and said he was under arrest. When she asked why, she said she received no answer.

The shooting occurred on a day that the president appeared to move closer to sending National Guard troops to the area.

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois said in a statement that he expected National Guard troops to be deployed to the state after a Trump official told him Saturday that the administration intended to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard against the governor’s wishes. Later in the day, White House officials confirmed the authorization. Federal officials have said troops were needed to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, including a processing facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview.

“I want to be clear: There is no need for military troops on the ground in the state of Illinois,” said Pritzker, a Democrat. “State, county and local law enforcement have been working together and coordinating to ensure public safety around the Broadview ICE facility, and to protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their constitutional rights.”

For months, President Donald Trump has pushed to bring the U.S. military to the streets of U.S. cities, in Los Angeles; Washington; and Portland, Oregon, where he vowed to send troops to protect the “war-ravaged” city.

“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement Saturday.

The confrontation on Chicago’s Southwest Side, where federal immigration agents were on patrol, drew hundreds of people to the area Saturday afternoon to protest federal immigration activity, which has been escalating sharply in Chicago and its suburbs in recent days. Many Chicagoans have pushed back on the presence of ICE agents, shouting at them and trying to block their vehicles when they have been spotted patrolling streets.

In Broadview on Friday, during an appearance by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, federal agents confronted and pushed protesters outside the immigration facility, leading to a standoff and demonstration that lasted several hours.

At the protest Saturday, people waved Mexican and American flags, blew high-pitched whistles as a symbol of resistance to immigration enforcement and chanted in unison: “ICE, go home!”

Federal agents responded with tear gas and pepper balls in an effort to disperse the crowd. Dozens of Chicago police officers soon arrived to control the scene, forming a line between federal agents and protesters.

Fabian Sierra, 51, who lives in the neighborhood, said he heard of a shooting involving a federal agent and immediately came to the scene.

“I felt like I had to join my people,” said Sierra, who added that he was in the country legally but still felt afraid.

Lately, he said, people in his neighborhood have been fearful of ICE arrests, with residents staying home and keeping watch.

“My friends don’t want to go to work,” he said. “Businesses are closed.”

Melissa Becerril, a 22-year-old nurse from the nearby Gage Park neighborhood, said she felt that anyone who was Latino could be targeted.

“It’s gotten to the point that ICE is targeting people regardless of whether they are legal or not,” she said.

A middle-of-the-night Border Patrol raid this past week that targeted people in an apartment building on the South Side has infuriated many in Chicago, and bystander videos of hovering helicopters and zip-tied residents have spread widely.

By midafternoon Saturday, ICE vehicles had begun pulling away from the scene of the protests. Some members of the crowd erupted in cheers; others threw objects at the vehicles. Federal agents responded with a volley of tear gas.