A Chicago police officer was struck by a vehicle Saturday morning while trying to manage an increasingly tense scene in Little Village, where anti-Border Patrol crowds clashed with federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation, officials said.
The officer was hit by a woman driving a pickup truck around 9:44 a.m. at 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue, according to preliminary reports. Another officer at the scene said the injured officer was taken to Stroger Hospital and his injuries appeared to be relatively minor. The crash did not appear to be intentional, according to preliminary information from the scene.
Minutes earlier, a man driving a black Jeep allegedly fired shots at U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents conducting enforcement actions in the area, the Department of Homeland Security said. No agents were struck, and the gunman fled, prompting a manhunt by federal and local authorities that came up empty.
“Today, U.S. Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement operations near 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, when an unknown male driving a black Jeep fired shots at agents and fled the scene,” DHS said in a statement on Twitter. “An unknown number of agitators also threw a paint can and bricks at Border Patrol’s vehicles. Chicago Police Department was called for assistance and cleared the scene. The shooter and vehicle remain at large, and this is a dynamic situation.”
The statement also claimed that Saturday’s confrontation was “not isolated,” citing “a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction” directed toward federal law enforcement during operations in recent months.
Videos posted online show Border Patrol agents deploying smoke or tear gas to disperse a crowd that had blocked their caravan. In one clip, Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino is seen stepping from a vehicle holding a gas canister and ordering people to back away, though he did not activate the canister in the video.
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