Off-duty FBI agent fatally shot man who was firing into crowd in Pilsen, officials say

An off-duty FBI agent shot and killed a man he saw firing into a crowd Monday evening in Pilsen, the agency said in a statement.

The agent was driving home from work in an FBI vehicle around 5:30 p.m. when he saw the man “discharging a firearm into a group of innocent people” near 18th Street and Union Avenue, according to the FBI. At least two shots were fired before the agent intervened “to stop the ongoing threat,” the FBI said.

When Chicago cops rushed to an officer-in-distress call around the time of the shooting, they found the 41-year-old agent aiming at the gunman after he’d been wounded, according to a Chicago police report. A handgun was found under a bicycle, the report said.

The gunman, identified as 27-year-old Oscar Isaya-Corrales, had suffered gunshot wounds to both legs, his chest and right flank, according to the police report and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Isaya-Corrales was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, less than an hour after he was shot, authorities said. His death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The FBI said the agent wasn’t injured. An agent with the same name listed on the police report joined the FBI in March 2017 and had also worked in Seattle, according to federal court records.

“The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously,” the agency said in a statement. “In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division.”

The feds described Isaya-Corrales as a Venezuelan without legal status who had been “taken into custody at the border and subsequently released” during the Biden administration in 2023.

Isaya-Corrales’ place of birth was listed as Venezuela in an arrest report filed on May 25, when he was allegedly caught shoplifting at a Nordstrom store at 55 E. Grand Ave. He tried to steal five necklaces valued at nearly $320 but was apprehended by security guards, the report says.

He had a Guatemalan passport “that did not belong to him,” although officers couldn’t immediately determine whether it was stolen, according to the report.

A warrant was issued for his arrest on June 1 when he failed to appear in court, records show. Before that, he was charged with damaging a woman’s windshield, but that case was quickly dropped.

He had lived at the Pacific Garden Mission, a shelter at 527 W. 14th Place, according to police records. Chris Ridgeway, a manager at Pacific Garden, said Isaya-Corrales lived in the shelter from January until March and later for a few weeks in May. Ridgeway said he remembered Isaya-Corrales’ bleached hair and affable personality.

Cristian Andrade, who helps with translation at the shelter, recalled Isaya-Corrales saying that he had emigrated from Venezuela and had no family in the area.

Andrade said Isaya-Corrales came to Pacific Garden to “try to make his life better” but struggled with drug addiction. He often hung around a nearby Home Depot with others looking for work, Andrade noted.

“I remember he was a nice guy,” Andrade said. “I don’t know why somebody would kill him.”

A 41-year-old man said he was finishing dinner with family Tuesday evening when he heard a “loud bang” followed by a barrage of gunfire.

“We hit the deck. We got down,” said the man, who asked to remain anonymous. “It was quiet for another minute, and we got back up and saw that there was some kind of officer in an unmarked car … getting behind his car with his gun drawn.”

He said he called 911 when he saw the man lying unresponsive on the sidewalk.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) noted Tuesday that children and families live in the area where the shooting erupted. “To me, it’s important that we look at safety, for the safety of all of us,” Sigcho-Lopez told reporters.

Joe Ramirez said drug dealing, thefts and the recent shooting have made him consider leaving the Pilsen home where he’s lived for 46 years.

“I was already talking to people about selling because I can’t live around stuff like that,” said Ramirez, 77. “My son lives in Dallas [and] said, ‘Well, there it is, Dad. It’s time to go.’”