ICE shoots woman during Brighton Park confrontation

Breaking news for the entire Chicago area.

CHICAGO – UPDATE: Two suspects have been charged in connection with Saturday’s incident.

Law enforcement shot at an armed woman after officers were “rammed” and “boxed in” by 10 cars on Chicago’s Southwest Side on Saturday morning, according to a top Trump administration official.

The suspect was injured and drove herself to the hospital.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a news release the incident happened near the intersection of 39th Place and S. Kedzie Avenue in Brighton Park.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the wounded woman was treated and released from Mount Sinai Hospital Saturday afternoon.

DHS later said two people were arrested including Marimar Martinez, who was allegedly driving one of the vehicles involved and was armed with the weapon. The other suspect, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, was also involved in allegedly ramming officers.

Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz

What we know:

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin posted on X that the incident happened after the officers were trapped by the cars.

Agents were “unable to move their vehicles and exited the car.” DHS said the suspect tried to run over the officers.

McLaughlin said one of the individuals who rammed the officers was armed with a semi-automatic weapon.

“Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds,” McLaughlin said.

She went on to say that the armed woman was named in a Customs and Border Patrol intelligence bulletin last week for “doxing agents and posting online ‘Hey to all my gang lets f*** those mother f****** up, don’t let them take anyone.’”

She said no officers were seriously injured, but later DHS said “several CBP law enforcement officers” were sent to the hospital with various injuries. Officials did not specify how many officers were hurt.

She also accused Chicago police officers of “leaving the shooting scene” and said the department “refuses to assist us in securing the area.”

In a statement, the Chicago Police Department said officers responded to the 3900 block of South Kedzie Avenue for a call of a person shot. Officers documented the incident and were on scene to “maintain safety and traffic control for all living and working in the area.”

Police added that “CPD is not involved in the incident or its investigation. Federal authorities are investigating this shooting, and all further inquiries regarding the circumstances of this shooting should be referred to the appropriate federal authorities.”

Within a half hour after the shooting, numerous protesters arrived at the scene, some throwing water bottles, prompting ICE agents to deploy tear gas and flashbang grenades towards that crowd.

One woman said ICE took her son, who she says is a U.S. Citizen.

“An immigration took my son, his name is Anthony Rees. He was in the wrong place, wrong time,” Elizabeth Ruiz said. “One of the immigration officers just grabbed him from his arm, viciously and arrested him. And then that’s when I started. Obviously, he’s my son. I started to swear I started as why why why and I started crying. They took him into the car.”

Ruiz says her son was driving with some friends to a movie when they were hit from behind by an ICE vehicle. She says she arrived at the scene just in time to see ICE agents arrest her son.

What they’re saying:

“ICE and DHS are known to lie about the nature of their operations and their statement today is totally inconsistent with our observations of what was happening in the community,” Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights representative Brandon Lee said. “We did not witness or participate in any boxing in as described by DHS. You know what we observed was federal agents crashing into a car crashing into civilian vehicle causing a multi-car collision on Kedzie. ICE firing bullets into a car shooting at least one person.”