By Townhall Chicago News Staff
An off-duty FBI agent fatally shot a man who was firing a gun into a homeless encampment near 18th Street and Union Avenue on the Lower West Side Monday evening, according to accounts aired on AM 560 radio.
The agent was driving home when he saw the shooting and intervened, according to the broadcast accounts. The man he shot died at the scene. The shooting remains under investigation.
A witness described seeing a person dressed in black and wearing a ski mask riding an e-bike while firing shots toward the encampment, according to the broadcast accounts.
The man who was shot has been identified as a Venezuelan national living in the country illegally who had an outstanding felony warrant, according to the accounts. The warrant stemmed from his failure to appear in court on a pending felony shoplifting charge involving the theft of five necklaces from a Nordstrom store.
Mike Scott, co-host of AM 560’s morning radio program, said, “The information we had gotten said that the suspect that was shot was an undocumented immigrant, did not have legal status — was here from Venezuela.”
Under the Illinois SAFE-T Act, the original shoplifting charge was not eligible for pretrial detention. Dan Proft, the program’s host, said the man was never referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his earlier arrest. “There was no referral to ICE to remove him. No. Of course not,” Proft said.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez criticized the agent’s use of force in a Fox Chicago appearance, arguing it bypassed due process. “I do not think that any human being deserves to be shot up nine times,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “Justice is not served in the streets. We don’t need cowboys coming in and serving justice on their own.”
Proft rejected that criticism on air. “Due process, Constitution, cowboys — what the frack are you talking about?” Proft said. “He is trying to neutralize a threat to innocent people.”
The shooting adds to debate over the SAFE-T Act, the 2021 Illinois law that eliminated cash bail and narrowed the list of charges eligible for pretrial detention. The law has been a recurring issue in the city’s mayoral primary campaign.
No charges had been announced against the agent as of Friday. Authorities have not said which agency is leading the investigation into the shooting.
The encampment near 18th and Union sits close to an expressway on the Lower West Side, an area that has seen a series of public safety disputes this year involving homeless residents and nearby property owners.
The case has become part of the broader debate over Chicago’s status as a city that limits local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Under the city’s sanctuary policies, local police generally do not notify ICE when someone is arrested or released from custody, regardless of immigration status.
