The Department of Homeland Security has changed its description of an immigration enforcement-related shooting in suburban Baltimore on Christmas Eve after local police contradicted details in the department’s initial statement.
On December 24, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying that during an enforcement operation in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “defensively fired” at a van carrying two undocumented immigrants after the driver crashed into an ICE vehicle while trying to escape and “then drove the van directly at ICE officers in an attempt to run them over.”
Seconds later, the truck crashed, killing the driver and injuring the passenger, according to the original statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
The department now says the injured man was not in the van but “was a passenger in an ICE vehicle that was struck,” according to a new statement to CNN from Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin.
The change of narrative comes as the Department of Homeland Security faces heightened scrutiny over the shooting death of a Minneapolis woman by ICE agents last week and, more broadly, over the veracity of information provided by federal officials in carrying out President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown.
New details about the Maryland ICE shooting were first released Thursday by the Anne Arundel County Police Department, which is investigating the incident.
“To clarify preliminary information regarding a shooting incident involving ICE agents that occurred in Glen Burnie, Maryland on December 24, 2025: An ICE detainee who was injured during the incident has been placed in an ICE vehicle and the other injured person was struck by gunfire while operating another vehicle,” the Police Department said.
Anne Arundel County police said their investigation into the incident is ongoing and stressed that its officers do not enforce immigration laws and do not conduct ICE operations.
McLaughlin said ICE officers were conducting a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” in Glen Burnie when they confronted the van.
The two undocumented immigrants were identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins and Salvadoran national Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, the Portuguese national who drove the truck and who authorities now say was driving an ICE vehicle.
McLaughlin said officers approached the truck and asked Sousa-Martins to turn off the engine, but he refused and tried to leave the scene, ramming an ICE vehicle and “then (drove) his truck directly at the ICE officer.”
“Fearing for their lives and public safety, the officers fired defensively, striking the driver,” she said.
McLaughlin said Souza-Martins then crashed his car between two buildings, although photos posted by the Department of Homeland Security on the X on the day of the incident show a white van crashing into a tree. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to CNN’s request to clarify this detail.
McLaughlin said police provided immediate medical attention to the two men and took them to the hospital, adding that no ICE personnel were injured.
Sousa-Martins is currently being held at a detention center in Bowling Green, Virginia, according to ICE detainee records. The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that Serrano-Esquivel “was being treated at the hospital for a whiplash injury” on the day of the incident and “is currently in ICE custody.”
The December incident was one of a series of violent clashes involving federal officers since Trump stepped up immigration enforcement during his second term.
Last week, ICE shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, who was in her car when she was shot. The incident sparked outcry and mass protests in Minneapolis and across the country. The day after Goode was killed, a Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, shot and wounded two people who authorities said had ties to the Venezuelan gang Tron de Aragua.
As in the Maryland incident, DHS officials accused Goode and the Portland driver of “weaponizing” their vehicles and targeting law enforcement.
CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to this report.
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