ICE officer said his injuries were 'nothing major' after deadly shooting near Chicago, video shows

As two federal agents tried to revive a Mexican immigrant who was dying from gunshot wounds, one of them sought to explain the shooting.

“He tried to run us over,” the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer said in body camera footage captured by a Franklin Park cop arriving at the northwest suburban shooting scene on Sept. 12.

Video obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows the blue jeans of the other federal agent were left bloodied and torn, and he told local police that he was “dragged a little bit.”

A short time later, Silverio Villegas González’s body was moved from the street and into an ambulance by a group of firefighters and paramedics. He was later pronounced dead at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, records show.

Speaking over a radio, the federal agent who told police that Villegas González tried to use his car as a weapon said his partner had suffered “a left knee injury and some lacerations to his hands.”

“Nothing major,” the injured agent said.

“Nothing major,” his partner echoed.

Shortly after the shooting, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported the agent “sustained multiple injuries” and was “seriously injured” when he was “dragged a significant distance” by Villegas González’s car as he fled a traffic stop. DHS officials said the agent had opened fire, fearing for his life.

The injured agent was eventually taken to a second ambulance, and his partner said he was going to follow behind, video shows. DHS said his condition was soon stabilized.

“I think we’re good, man,” the second agent said as he began to drive off. “Just shooken up a little.”

As streets were blocked off and nearby schools were placed on lockdown after the shooting, news crews and protesters gathered behind police tape nearby.

Demonstrators banged drums and chanted, while a member of the media asked Franklin Park Police Director Michael Witz if police would be fielding questions.

At one point, Witz explained to his officers that local cops wouldn’t be investigating the shooting. “It’s a federal shooting, you’re not going to investigate a federal officer,” Witz says.

A DHS spokesperson Monday night didn’t respond to questions about the videos or which agency is investigating the fatal shooting, apparently the first by an on-duty ICE official since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.

Dawn Catanzaro, a Franklin Park spokesperson, previously said “the FBI Chicago field office is in charge of the investigation,” referring questions to that agency. An FBI spokesperson previously said the agency responded to the shooting and assisted law enforcement on the scene, but wouldn’t comment on involvement in an ongoing investigation.

The body camera videos, obtained from Franklin Park police through a public records request, offer the most revelatory look yet at the aftermath of the shooting, which has drawn national attention and continued scrutiny.

The videos raise new questions about the narrative put forth by DHS, which is leading an ongoing deportation campaign in the Chicago area that has stoked fears and sparked protests.

The driver of the truck that was struck by Villegas González’s car told police that Villegas González reversed when the federal agents cut him off and tried to take him into custody, video shows. The truck driver said he assumed that Villegas González was shot before the collision, and he recalled hearing at least one gunshot.

“I don't know if they shot him before and that's why he crashed into me,” the driver told Franklin Park officers. “Because there should have been no reason for him to crash into me, he could've just gone to the left.”

Doubts have been cast on ICE’s narrative of the traffic stop that started the encounter. A witness said he was driving past as Villegas González’s sedan swerved into the semi-trailer and two agents approached the crash, but the witness said he didn’t see Villegas González dragging one of the agents behind his car.

Meanwhile, the feds have largely been silent on the incident since it happened, drawing criticism from Gov. JB Pritzker for a lack of transparency.

The two federal agents involved in Villegas González’s arrest weren’t wearing body cameras during the deadly shooting. A program requiring them was scrapped by the Trump administration, the Chicago Sun-Times has reported.

Mourners at a vigil for Villegas González said days after his death that the 38-year-old father and cook from Michoacán, Mexico, was a “devoted father” of two and “kind soul.” He was his two children’s caretaker and had dropped off one of his kids at school minutes before he was shot, according to U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.

Pritzker has called for a “full, factual accounting of what’s happened.” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the killing. And Reyna Torres Mendivil, the consul general of Mexico in Chicago, said the Mexican government has requested a ”thorough investigation.”

“For everybody to be clear and to have peace of mind, I think it’s important to do that,” Torres Mendivil said.