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Video: Chicago pastor hit as federal agent shoots pepper ball from roof during ICE protest
A federal agent is seen firing pepper balls at protesters outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in Broadview.
A video shows a federal agent firing pepper balls at protesters outside the ICE processing center in the Chicago suburb of Broadview last month, striking a Chicago pastor in the head, according to a report by Fox 32 Chicago.
In the video, a federal agent is seen firing pepper balls at protesters outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in Broadview, hitting a pastor in the head.
The footage, recorded by Kelly Hayes, shows protesters standing outside the ICE facility and shouting at three agents stationed there. One of the agents then began firing pepper balls, and one struck Pastor David Black of the First Presbyterian Church in the Woodlawn neighborhood, the report added.
Black fell to the ground as others rushed to help him.
Hayes said she had been at the protest for only a few minutes when the incident occurred. She later said that “Black was okay now.”
“I invited them to repentance,” David Black told Religion News Service regarding his interaction with the ICE last month. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”
The incident comes amid heightened federal immigration enforcement in Chicago and other US cities under President Donald Trump, which has led to widespread demonstrations.
The American Civil Liberties Union also issued a statement, saying, “These federal forces are not trained to conduct local policing, and their tactics involve the indiscriminate use of force and the arrest of people without any legal basis.”
It added that Black and others are now seeking an emergency court order to halt what they describe as “illegal and brutal suppression” of free speech rights.
