Illinois State Police investigating fatal ICE shooting in Franklin Park

Eight months after a federal immigration agent killed a man in the suburbs during earliest days of “Operation Midway Blitz,” Illinois State Police have opened an investigation into the fatal shooting.

The investigation was prompted by a request last week from police in Franklin Park, where Silverio Villegas González was fatally shot on Sept. 12, 2025, shortly after he dropped off his children at school and daycare.

The call for an ISP probe came the same day a state panel appointed by Gov. JB Pritzker published a 204-page report detailing alleged misconduct by on-duty federal immigration agents during the Trump administration’s Chicago-focused mass deportation campaign last fall.

After a series of hearings, the Illinois Accountability Commission issued findings that federal agents engaged in “patterns of illegal and violent conduct,” according to commission chair and former U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo.

ISP spokesperson Melaney Arnold confirmed the investigation, specifying that Franklin Park police requested a review from the ISP’s Public Integrity Task Force, which investigates officer-involved shootings across the state. The investigation is already underway.

“When complete, the case will be turned over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office,” Arnold said in a statement.

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has spent months fending off a political pressure campaign demanding she open investigations into immigration agents' alleged wrongdoing.

Burke spokesperson Elyssa Cherney confirmed the state’s attorney’s office has “been in contact with ISP and will play a supportive role in their investigation.”

“We are unable to comment further on a pending law enforcement investigation,” she added.

In the meantime, a Cook County judge is weighing whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate — and possibly charge — immigration agents for alleged abuses. A decision is set for Monday, May 11.

More than 400 Cook County residents, including elected officials and community leaders, have signed on to a petition for a special prosecutor, accusing Burke of “abdicating her duty.”

Villegas González shooting

Villegas González, 38, was a Mexican national who’d been living in the U.S. since 2007. On Sept. 12, ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle pulled him over 2½ blocks from his younger son’s daycare.

The Illinois Accountability Commission reviewed multiple videos, including security footage. It showed federal agents leaning against his car from both the driver’s and passenger’s side windows for about eight seconds before Villegas González began to reverse his vehicle, then pulled forward into an open lane of traffic, away from the agents.

One of the agents fired shots at Villegas González, who then crashed into a parked delivery truck. He was pronounced dead an hour later at a nearby hospital. The Cook County Medical Examiner found Villegas González sustained two bullet wounds: One entered through the back of his neck and remained in his chest, while another grazed two of his fingers.

After the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement claiming Villegas González had “refused to follow law enforcement commands and drove his car at law enforcement officers,” hitting one of the ICE agents and dragging him “a significant distance.” The statement also implied the agent received medical treatment for “multiple injuries.”

But according to body-worn camera video from a Franklin Park police officer who responded to the scene, one of the agents described the cuts and bruises to his knees, elbows and hands as “nothing major.” The other agent told the officer that Villegas González “tried to run us over.”

In a subsequent statement, DHS called Villegas González “a criminal illegal alien with a history of reckless driving,” though Cook County court records show that only one of his four traffic citations between 2010 and 2019 was for driving above the speed limit, according to reporting from Block Club Chicago. The other three were for driving with an expired license and without vehicle insurance.

According to the Illinois State Police, the FBI is the “primary investigating agency,” but it has not made public any findings about the incident in the eight months since it happened.

In its report, the Illinois Accountability Commission determined “there is reasonable cause to believe that federal agents shot and killed Villegas González without apparent justification.”