Illinois State Police and the Broadview Police Department are investigating after a pepper ball was shot at a CBS News Chicago reporter over the weekend.
It was around late morning Sunday when reporter Asal Rezaei visited the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, to see if there was any activity near the 25th Street entrance. There were no protests or protesters at the scene, except for a person with the Broadview Fire Department.
“It’s not really clear why that officer took a shot at me. My car has been here several times, although I did not identify myself verbally as a member of the press,” she said in a report.
Rezaei said she was not close to the ICE facility nor the fencing surrounding the building, adding she was alone in her truck with the driver’s side window down.
As reported to police, she was leaving the area when she said a masked ICE agent shot a pepper ball about 50 feet from the inside of the fence, hitting her truck’s driver’s side panel. The chemicals then engulfed the inside of her truck.
“An ICE agent who was masked shot directly at my car,” Rezaei recounted on camera after the incident. “He saw my window was open.”
The chemicals from the shot caused burning to her face, leading to her vomiting outside her truck.
In a report, she said her truck has been at the facility several times, although she did not identify herself verbally as a member of the press. It is unclear if she was targeted as a member of the media.
Rezaei captured a picture the moment right before the pepper ball was fired, showing a nearly empty parking lot and two federal agents standing dozens of feet away. One of them appeared to have been readying his weapon. She said she believes that it was the agent who fired at her car.
Over the past weeks, journalists and independent observers have visited the site of the facility daily to document ongoing ICE activity and protest, on some occasions finding themselves caught in the middle of clashes between federal agents and protesters.
On Friday, Sept. 19, tear gas was fired indiscriminately into a crowd of protesters blocking the facility’s gate. The row of media at the scene documenting the demonstration also suffered the effects of the gas.
Federal agents, in one instance, on Saturday, Sept. 27, fired rounds of projectiles in the direction of photojournalists who were trying to document the takedown of a man who screamed that he couldn’t breathe.
Gov. JB Pritzker addressed the incidents between journalists and federal agents during a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“ICE has attacked and detained members of the press, including an independent journalist,” he said.
Pritzker continued, “We are seeing that ICE doesn’t give a damn, and neither does the president of the United States,” Pritzker said. “He is doing nothing to make it better.”
On Sunday afternoon, after a federal agent shot at Asal’s car, our news desk reached out to DHS asking for a statement.
A spokesperson for DHS in a statement said, “No member of the media at CBS or any other outlet was “attacked.” For their safety, we remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, armed with guns, slashing tires, throwing tear gas cans and other violent acts. Secretary Noem has been clear: rioters will not stop or slow us down from removing the worst of the worst.”
DHS did not respond to more specific questions about what happened.
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