Feds Change Story After Police Dispute Account Of Glen Burnie ICE Shooting

GLEN BURNIE, MD — Department of Homeland Security officials changed their account of last month's shooting involving ICE agents in Glen Burnie, a day after Anne Arundel County police disagreed with the federal government's original version of events, according to a Baltimore Banner report.

Until Friday, the federal agency had claimed that two men were inside a van that officials said tried to ram ICE vehicles and run over agents during a Dec. 24 operation in Glen Burnie. Agents opened fire on the van and wounded its driver, identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, an immigrant from Portugal whose U.S. visa expired in 2009. The second man, Salomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel of El Salvador, was also injured.

However, on Thursday, Anne Arundel County police said Serrano-Esquivel was not in the van during the incident. According to police, he was already in custody in an ICE vehicle.

RELATED:

• New Details Emerge Weeks After ICE Shooting In MD
• ICE Officers Shoot Van Driver, Passenger Who Tried To Hit Them: DHS

Following the release of the new details by police, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin walked back the agency's claims that Serrano-Esquivel was in the passenger’s seat of Sousa-Martin’s van, according to a statement obtained by the Banner.

On Friday, McLaughlin also said that Serrano-Esquivel was in ICE custody and was injured when Sousa-Martins rammed the ICE vehicle he was in.

According to federal authorities, ICE officers were conducting a targeted operation in Glen Burnie on Christmas Eve when they approached the van driven by Sousa-Martins. Federal officials claimed Sousa-Martins was told to turn off the engine; however, officials said he refused and tried to flee, ramming his van into several federal vehicles and attempting to run officers over.

The officers fired their weapons and hit Sousa-Martins, who crashed the van, according to the Department of Homeland Security's statement.

The new version of events provided by both federal and local authorities echoed an account given to The Banner shortly after the shooting by an attorney who visited Serrano-Esquivel at the hospital.

Alex Major told the Banner that Serrano-Esquivel, a landscape worker, was pulled over by federal agents along with a family member in Southern Maryland and taken into custody Wednesday morning, hours before he was accused of riding in the van that rammed ICE officers.

A bystander’s video reviewed by The Banner also showed a white van following a crash. Agents removed one man from the vehicle and took him away on a stretcher. In the video, there was no sign of a second man inside the van.