There are new questions about an immigration arrest that turned deadly in suburban Franklin Park.
During the incident nearly two weeks ago, ICE agents were attempting to pull over and arrest an undocumented immigrant when they say the man drove away, hitting and dragging an ICE agent and seriously injuring the officer – who then fired a fatal gunshot. But videos obtained Tuesday by the NBC Chicago investigative team don’t support that version of events.
The fatal incident happened on Sept. 12 on a main street in west suburban Franklin Park, during what has been described as a typical immigration operation. Since then, on numerous occasions, top homeland security officials have insisted the ICE officer who shot and killed motorist Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez had feared for his life; had been hit by the suspect’s car, dragged and seriously hurt with multiple injuries. Now though, newly obtained police bodycam videos reveal the ICE officer had a scraped-up knee and described his injuries as “nothing major.”
The suburban police department wasn’t involved in the immigration arrests, but did respond to the shooting. This was heard crackling across police radios about 8:30 am. on the day of the incident.
“Franklin Park units shots fired Elder and Grand/Grand and Elder. It was involving also a motor vehicle accident. There’s ICE officers on scene that were trying to grab someone…”
The man ICE was trying to grab was 38-year old Villegas-Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant with no criminal history and a few old traffic violations.
On that day in Franklin Park, federal agents and witnesses said he refused to submit to ICE agents when they tried to detain him and instead drove off.
Authorities said he struck an ICE agent who had been on the job since since 2021. The agent, they alleged, was dragged and seriously hurt. U.S. Homeland Security officials made statements on social media and in press releases that the officer had feared for his life, and that he shot and killed Villegas-Gonzalez in the frenzy.
When the first Franklin Park officer arrived, ICE officers were seen helping tend to the man who had just been shot.
“He tried to run us over…” said one of the ICE agents to the first suburban officer on the scene.
That explanation was backed up by another driver who witnessed the incident before Villegas-Gonzalez crashed into his truck.
“They had pulled him over, they cut him off” the trucker told Franklin Park police. “They got out of the car, they tried to get him, but he reversed and I don’t know if they shot him beforehand…”
The ICE officer who shot Villegas-Gonzalez and was said to be seriously injured after being dragged a significant distance remained on the scene, walking and talking with local authorities. And when asked if he was OK, the officer signaled yes, telling others he was fine.
“Are you guys good?” a suburban officer is heard asking him.
“I’ve got a cut,” the ICE agent said. “Left knee injury and some lacerations, elbow…Nothing major. Nothing major.”
No major injury was reported by the ICE agent, who was described in much more dire terms by Homeland Security officials in the days that followed and in the middle of the fatal shooting incident, there were questions about who should oversee the investigation. Franklin Park officials seemed to defer to the state or federal authorities, because it was a federal law enforcement operation the shooting occurred in.
The latest statement from Homeland Security officials finds that the ICE officer who killed Villega-Gonzalez “properly enforced the law to protect the public and law enforcement.”
