Weeks after the shooting of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on Christmas Eve, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement that differs from the account first provided to the media.
Initially, in a social media post on Dec. 24, DHS stated the two men who were taken into custody by ICE in Glen Burnie were in a van they claimed had been driven “directly at ICE officers” and that the driver, Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, was shot by officers “defensively.”
The account described a second man, Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, as being in the passenger’s seat of the van driven by Sousa-Martins, and that he was injured when Sousa-Martins “wrecked his van.”
But, on Friday, Anne Arundel County Police said in a news release that Serrano-Esquivel was not in the van driven by Sousa-Martins.
In fact, he was “already in custody in an ICE vehicle.” It added that the other individual, Sousa-Martins, “was struck by gunfire while operating a separate vehicle.”
What did DHS say?
On Friday afternoon, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to WTOP that ICE officers were involved in a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” during the Glen Burnie incident, and that officers approached the van driven by Sousa-Martins and told him to turn off the engine.
Sousa-Martins tried to drive off and “weaponized his vehicles and began ramming his van into several ICE vehicles,” according to the release.
“He then drove his van directly at ICE officers, it appeared he was trying to run them over.”
It was that action, the release states, that then prompted agents to “defensively” fire their service weapons, hitting Sousa-Martins who then “wrecked his van between two buildings, injuring (Serrano-Esquivel).”
Friday’s statement indicated officers “rendered immediate medical aid” to both men.
According to DHS, both men are in the United States illegally. Sousa-Martins is originally from Portugal and Serrano-Esquivel is from El Salvador.
Anne Arundel County police said the Christmas Eve shooting remains under investigation, and that anyone with information should contact them.
In Wednesday’s fatal shooting in Minneapolis, DHS officials stated 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good tried to run over officers before she was shot and killed.
A day after Good was killed, federal immigration agents shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland. DHS claimed the driver attempted to “weaponize” his vehicle to strike the officers.
