U.S. Border Patrol agents shot an armed woman in Chicago on Saturday after multiple vehicles surrounded [1] a team of officers during a patrol, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The incident occurred near 39th Place and South Kedzie Avenue on the city’s South Side.
DHS said a group of agents was conducting a routine patrol “when they were attacked and rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”
The department added that “The officers exited their trapped vehicle, when a suspect tried to run them over, forcing the officers to fire defensively.”
DHS described it as “an evolving situation” and said FBI agents were on the scene.
The suspect is a U.S. citizen and was armed with a semi-automatic weapon, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.
She said the woman was already known to federal authorities.
“The armed woman was named in a CBP intelligence bulletin last week for doxing agents and posting online ‘Hey to all my gang let’s f**k those mother f**kers up, don’t let them take anyone,’” McLaughlin wrote on X.
This morning, during routine patrolling in Broadview, in the same area of Chicago that law enforcement were assaulted yesterday, our brave law enforcement officers were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.
Agents were unable to move their vehicles and exited the car. One…
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) October 4, 2025 [2]
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said additional federal resources were being directed to the area.
“Today in Chicago, members of our brave law enforcement were attacked—rammed and boxed in by ten vehicles, including an attacker with a semi-automatic weapon. I am deploying more special operations to control the scene. Reinforcements are on their way,” she wrote on X.
“If you see a law enforcement officer today, thank them,” Noem added.
Today in Chicago, members of our brave law enforcement were attacked—rammed and boxed in by ten vehicles, including an attacker with a semi-automatic weapon.
I am deploying more special operations to control the scene. Reinforcements are on their way.
If you see a law…
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) October 4, 2025 [3]
After the shooting, the woman drove herself to seek treatment “to get care for her wounds,” McLaughlin said.
A Chicago Fire Department spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times the woman was later found and transported to a local hospital in stable condition. Authorities did not immediately release the precise time of the shooting.
“Thankfully, no law enforcement officers were seriously injured in the attack,” McLaughlin wrote.
She also criticized state and local authorities, saying, “Unfortunately, [Gov.] JB Pritzker’s Chicago Police Department is leaving the shooting scene and refuses to assist us in securing the area. There is a crowd growing and we are deploying special operations to control [it].”
The Sun-Times reported that a crowd gathered near the scene and that federal agents used tear gas.
The confrontation followed increased tensions around federal immigration enforcement activities in the Chicago area.
Last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced “Operation Midway Blitz,” an effort the agency said was designed to “target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” according to an ICE post on X.
DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois.
This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois… pic.twitter.com/OjbgtTE1Au [4]
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 8, 2025 [5]
Since the announcement, crowds have repeatedly gathered outside an ICE processing center near where Saturday’s shooting occurred.
Fox News reported that more than a dozen demonstrators were arrested in the streets near the facility on Friday.
DHS said federal officers have faced vehicle attacks around Chicago in recent days.
On Wednesday, the department reported that “criminal illegal aliens weaponized their vehicles in deliberate attempts to ram and injure officers carrying out their sworn duty to uphold our nation’s immigration laws” during incidents in Bensenville, Ill., and Norridge, Ill.
DHS said no members of law enforcement were killed in those attacks.
McLaughlin blamed elected leaders who oppose federal immigration enforcement for fueling hostilities toward officers.
“This is exactly what happens when Governor Pritzker, [Chicago] Mayor [Brandon] Johnson, and other sanctuary politicians demonize ICE and encourage illegal aliens to resist law enforcement,” she said.
She added that federal agencies would respond firmly to threats against personnel. “Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences,” she said.
“The men and women of ICE and CBP are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, they just want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop. We are praying for our law enforcement and their families,” McLaughlin said.