U.S. Border Patrol Agents Shoot Woman in Chicago After They Were Boxed in by Cars
A woman was shot and injured by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Chicago, marking the latest of several shootings since President Donald Trump‘s administration launched an immigration enforcement operation earlier this year.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in a statement that a shooting broke out in the city’s Brighton Park neighborhood on Saturday, Oct. 4, after “law enforcement officers were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”
After becoming stuck and getting out of their car, agents began firing “defensive shots” after they learned that a woman who was driving one of the cars “was armed with a semi-automatic weapon.”
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) told PEOPLE in a statement that they also responded to the scene after receiving a call about a person being shot to “document the incident.”
Although McLaughlin said that the woman, a U.S. citizen, drove herself to a hospital for treatment, WBEZ Chicago reported that Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said she was found near 39th Street and South Kedzie Avenue and was transported to the hospital.
No law enforcement officers were injured in the attack, according to McLaughlin, who claimed that the woman was known to agents for sharing information about immigration officers online.
A spokesperson with the Southwest Side Rapid Response team, a community-based organization that issues social media alerts when immigration enforcement agents are seen in the area, also alleged to WBEZ that the federal immigration agents caused a multi-vehicle car crash near the shooting. VISIT PEOPLE FOR MORE
