BURSTChicago's police chief said Monday that more than two dozen officers were impacted by tear gas deployed by federal law enforcement when responding to a shooting over the weekend.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said 27 officers were "affected" by chemical agents deployed by federal agents during a clash with protesters on Saturday.
“When our officers arrived on scene, they met with the federal agents who were out there. The federal agents had deployed chemical agents. They deployed chemical agents while our officers were there,” Snelling said during a news conference Monday.
Snelling said federal agents had called for police to assist in responding to a large crowd of protesters who showed up in Brighton Park near where a woman had been shot after federal authorities say she rammed her vehicle into their car, CBS News reported.
CBS reported that federal agents began deploying tear gas as some protesters began moving barricades. The superintendent said multiple reports were filed to document the situation.
The incident comes as local leaders in Chicago protest the Trump administration's move to deploy hundreds of National Guard members amid a federal immigration crackdown.
Local leaders including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) have criticized the increased federal presence, and the state of Illinois and city of Chicago have filed a lawsuit opposing Trump's National Guard deployment.
Snelling on Monday sought to clarify the police department's role responding to incidents involving federal agents.
“Communication is the key here. Communication does not mean collaboration. This had nothing to do with immigration enforcement,” Snelling said of the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) response to the weekend shooting.
“What it had to do with [was] a scene where someone in our city was shot and we, as CPD, are responsible for showing up, documenting that, even when the shooting and the investigation has been taken over by the FBI,” he added.