Silverio Villegas González had cocaine in his system when he was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, according to a newly released autopsy report.
The report shows Villegas González, a father and cook originally from Mexico, was shot at “close range” as he allegedly tried to flee Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who sought to stop his car Sept. 12, just days after the Trump administration announced an aggressive deportation campaign targeting the Chicago area.
A bullet that pierced the back of Villegas González’s neck traveled through his body and came to rest in his chest, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He also suffered graze wounds to two fingers.
Villegas González was rushed to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was hooked up to a breathing tube before being pronounced dead less than an hour after the shooting, the report states.
He was found with “apparent drug paraphernalia on his person,” according to the medical examiner’s office. A toxicology report showed he had cocaine and its metabolites in his system.
The medical examiner’s office determined he died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide. His autopsy report shows that he suffered from late-stage liver disease, which can be caused by alcohol abuse, hepatitis and other factors. He also had gallstones, which are commonly found with advanced liver disease.
The fatal shooting served as a flash point of “Operation Midway Blitz,” the enforcement operation that has hinged on aggressive policing tactics and led to more than 3,000 arrests, sending shock waves through immigrant communities in the Chicago area.
Like many of the immigrants detained by the feds, Villegas González had no criminal history. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said he had “a history of reckless driving” and was in the country without legal status.
Mourners at a vigil for Villegas González remembered the 38-year-old as a devoted father and a “kind soul.” U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., has said that Villegas González was the caretaker of his two children and had dropped one of them at school minutes before his deadly encounter with the ICE agents.
Shortly after the shooting, DHS reported an agent was “seriously injured” when he was “dragged a significant distance” by Villegas González’s car as he fled a stop. DHS officials said the agent had opened fire, fearing for his life.
But body camera footage first obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows the federal agent telling local police he was “dragged a little bit.” Speaking over the radio, his partner relays the agent suffered “a left knee injury and some lacerations to his hands.”
“Nothing major,” the injured agent said.
An investigator with the medical examiner’s office visited the scene and spoke to an FBI agent, who said the agency “would be taking jurisdiction of the case” and was trying to track down video evidence. Blood was left spattered on the car’s exterior and pooled near the curb, where paramedics had first treated Villegas González.
His Subaru Impreza “had substantial damage” and remained “wedged against the underside” of a tractor-trailer it collided with, according to the report, which couldn’t determine whether the crash happened before Villegas González was shot.
“The details of the incident have gone unsubstantiated at this time,” the investigator said.
Witnesses cast doubts on the narrative put forth by DHS.
One witness said he didn’t see Villegas González dragging one of the agents behind his car as it swerved into the trailer and the two feds approached.
The truck driver told police that Villegas González reversed when the federal agents cut him off and tried to take him into custody, body camera video shows. The driver said he assumed Villegas González had been shot before the collision.
The federal agents involved in the shooting weren’t wearing body cameras.
Gov. JB Pritzker has called for a “full, factual accounting,” of the shooting. And the Mexican government has requested “a thorough investigation,” according to the country’s consul general in Chicago.