Several people were arrested, including a man with a gun, after shots were fired, bricks were hurled and at least one car crashed into a cop Saturday during a standoff between residents and federal agents conducting immigration enforcement operations Saturday in Little Village.
Chicago police took at least five people into custody after the chaotic situation, which began about 9:30 a.m. in the 2500 block of South Kedzie Avenue and ended hours later in the early afternoon.
Hector Gomez, 45, remains in custody accused of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, police said. Court records show he allegedly pointed a nine-millimeter gun from a black Jeep at a woman.
Officers “approached the vehicle, opened the doors and observed [Gomez] sitting in the driver’s seat with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun in his lap,” court records show.
Officers spoke to the woman who told them Gomez “approached her and pointed the gun at her, placing her in fear of receiving a battery,” court records show.
Though Gomez is not charged with firing a gun, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that a man in a black Jeep fired shots at them and fled the scene as they conducted operations near 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue.
Gomez, who was ordered to remain detained at his court hearing Sunday, is due back in court Friday.
As police began responding to the shots fired call, “several requests for assistance” came in, according to a police report. “Upon arrival, responding officers observed a large hostile crowd engaging and interfering with multiple US Custom and Border Patrol agents,” the report said.
The situation continued to “escalate,” according to the report, which said some in the crowd began throwing bricks, according to the report.
Agents retreated and detectives later found a crime scene at 2513 S. Kedzie Ave., where two spend shell casings were found on a sidewalk, the report said. It was not clear yet who fired the gun.
After agents had left the area Saturday afternoon, four additional arrests were made near 23rd Street and Sawyer Avenue in a related incident as the situation remained tense between onlookers, protesters and officers.
Kai Movagh, 31, was charged with felony aggravated battery to a peace officer while Demarco Urbina, 20, Eduardo Lopez, 43, and Julian Sosa, 18, were all charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct, officials said.
One individual used a shoe to repeatedly strike an unmarked car and broke a taillight of a marked CPD squad car. The windshield of the same squad car was also cracked by what appeared to be a paintball.
Police scanner traffic showed there was confusion and scrambling among Chicago police to respond to the shots fired, the crowds that had gathered and the immigration enforcement activity in the area.
More cars were dispatched to 26th Street and Kedzie and 25th Street and Whipple Avenue around the time the shots were fired. Chicago police were seen rerouting traffic away from 23rd Street and Sawyer Avenue for an investigation.
Around 9:45 a.m., there was also a report of a Chicago police officer down after being hit by a car at 26th Street and Kedzie. After the crash, federal agents warned Chicago police they planned to release tear gas, but they never released it.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for an update on the investigation.
Contributing: Tom Schuba