CHICAGO — With the low hum of planes flying overhead, some 40 people wove through Franklin Park Monday night chanting out across the dark, quiet streets.

“Say his name!” they shouted. “Silverio!”

As questions continue to surface over how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents came to fatally shoot a man in Franklin Park on Friday, community members called for justice at a rally and march. Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, 38, was shot and killed after he allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop and struck an ICE officer with his vehicle.

Arely Ocampo attended Monday’s rally with her husband, their two kids and her nephew. They carried a Mexican flag.

“It breaks my heart,” the 29-year-old said of the shooting. Ocampo brought her family out to the protest from neighboring Elmwood Park to say, “This is not OK.”

A week ago, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced it was beginning a surge of immigration law enforcement in Chicago, dubbing it “Operation Midway Blitz” and claiming it would target “criminal illegal aliens” who have taken advantage of the city and state’s sanctuary policies. On Monday, federal immigration enforcement agents fanned out across the Chicago region, arresting at least 17 people in the city and suburbs and being spotted by immigrant advocates and others at a Chicago courthouse and in cities from Elgin to Aurora.

On Tuesday morning, Gregory Bovino, the border patrol official who led immigration operations in Los Angeles this summer, announced his arrival in Chicago in a message posted to X.

“Well, Chicago, we’ve arrived! Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles — to make the city safer by targeting and arresting criminal illegal aliens,” Bovino said in the post.

On Monday night, protesters spoke and chanted in the intersection of Grand Avenue and Emerson Street, near where the shooting took place. They expressed outrage over the shooting, demanded justice and called for abolishment of ICE. At the southeast corner of the intersection lay a memorial of candles, flowers, pro-immigration signs and pictures of Villegas Gonzalez.

Demonstrators shut down traffic along Grand Avenue from Scott Street to 25th Avenue for about 45 minutes before marching through the village, where they continued their pleas.

“No justice, no peace,” they called out. “We want ICE off our streets.”

Karla Romero was home when she heard the protesters walking by, she said. At the sound of their shouts, she left with her 1-year-old daughter and 2-year-old to join them.

“I think what happened to (Villegas Gonzalez) was an eye-opener,” the 22-year-old said, ” that it could really happen to anybody. … It’s something that’s really going on. It’s something that we have to speak up (about), especially (for) those that are so scared to come out. So scared to go to their jobs. So scared to go to the grocery store.”

The shooting brought immediate calls for transparency from Illinois political leaders and condemnation from activists who decried the “aggressive” tactics of immigration agents. Hours after the fatal incident, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Democrat from Chicago, called for a full investigation of the shooting.

Days later, those calls and questions continue.

Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday said he’s still seeking information on the shooting Friday, including about the circumstances that led up to it.

If the Chicago police, a sheriff’s office or Illinois State Police were involved in a shooting, the governor said, “you would have had a lot more information.”

But so far, “apparently ICE is unwilling to provide that transparency,” he said.

“This is the most unusual situation I’ve seen in my entire lifetime, where we have no transparency and the federal government is not policing itself,” Pritzker said.

Federal officials have stated that the officer who opened fire acted appropriately and in fear for his life. According to a written statement from the Department of Homeland Security, a vehicle stop led to the shooting.

Immigration officers, per the DHS statement, conducted a traffic stop Friday morning to arrest Villegas Gonzalez, who the agency said was a citizen of Mexico and was in the U.S. illegally. But Villegas Gonzalez “refused to follow law enforcement commands and drove his car” at officers, striking one of the ICE agents and dragging him “a significant distance,” the DHS statement said. “Fearing for his life, the officer discharged his firearm and struck the subject.”

Two sets of video obtained by the Tribune show Villegas Gonzalez driving west on Grand in a grey Subaru and changing lanes. One captures the sound of two gunshots. A second shows Gonzalez’ vehicle reversing.

An autopsy over the weekend determined Villegas Gonzalez died of multiple gunshot wounds in a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Meanwhile, the FBI, which responded to the scene and could be seen collecting evidence, would not on Monday confirm or deny that it was investigating the shooting.

“The Department of Justice’s media policy prohibits the FBI from confirming or denying investigations, but as a general matter, we examine the facts with consideration of federal criminal statutes,” the FBI said in a statement. “We then proceed as appropriate, whether by investigating or referring the matter to the relevant partners.”

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office was not immediately available for comment.

The PASO West Suburban Action Project, a Melrose Park-based social justice organization, denounced the shooting as “unnecessary and unjust.”

“We have had enough bloodshed already,” Nancy Salgado, director of organizing for PASO, said in a statement Monday. “Someone’s immigration status should not result in loss of human life.”

According to DHS reports, ICE agents recorded 78 instances of use of force during the 2023 fiscal year, including two fatalities. In 2022, the agency recorded 55 incidents, four of them fatal.

Use of force by DHS agents is governed by agency policy, which was updated in February of 2023 after a President Joe Biden-era executive order sought measures to increase trust between law enforcement and the community.

The policy memo broadly defines justifiable use of force as when “no reasonably effective, safe and feasible alternative appears to exist.” The 13-page policy memo further says that agents may only use a level of force that is “objectively reasonable” in light of the specific facts on the ground.

In particular, the policy notes that DHS agents cannot shoot at the driver of a moving vehicle unless such a use of force would be justified under the overall policy.

It also says that agents must not shoot at moving vehicles as a warning or to disable the vehicle, except in some limited circumstances such as in certain maritime or aviation scenarios.

Per the memo, agents must consider the risk to bystanders when using force in this type of scenario.

A May 2022 executive order signed by Biden required federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, to improve data collection on instances of use of force and ensure that use of force policies “reflect principles of valuing and preserving human life.”

The executive order also mandated federal agencies to update or create policies around use of body worn cameras, designed so that “cameras are worn and activated in all appropriate circumstances, including during arrests and searches” for agents who regularly engage with the public.

Accordingly, DHS issued a policy memo in May of 2023, but a January 2024 agency news release said that “ICE currently does not have the resources to (issue) cameras to all ICE law enforcement personnel.”

In the wake of Friday’s shooting, a GoFundMe was launched to help pay for Villegas Gonzalez’s funeral expenses and memorial services. The fundraiser, which had amassed more than $37,800 as of Monday night, described Villegas Gonzalez as a “devoted father, cherished friend and kind soul who touched the lives of so many.”

“(Villegas Gonzalez is) leaving behind not only loving family and friends, but also a legacy of warmth, resilience, and deep compassion,” the fundraiser reads. “He was someone who always extended a helping hand, shared his smile freely, and showed up for those he loved — no matter the circumstances.”

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—The Tribune’s Olivia Olander and Jason Meisner contributed to this report.

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