A Venezuelan migrant who was fatally shot Monday night by an off-duty FBI agent in Chicago had previously been apprehended and released at the southern border during the Biden administration, according to multiple federal law enforcement sources who spoke with Fox News.
The FBI said Tuesday that the agent was driving home alone in a Bureau-issued vehicle when he came upon an armed man shooting toward a group of people. The agent intervened to stop the threat, and the shooting is now subject to an internal review.
Federal sources identified the man as 27-year-old Oscar D. Corrales and said he was firing a gun toward people in a homeless encampment when the off-duty agent encountered him.
The agent, who was alone in the vehicle, stopped after seeing Corrales fire toward the encampment. He exited the car and shot Corrales, killing him, sources said.
The FBI’s Chicago field office (Stan Honda/AFP Photo via Getty Images)
In a statement to News Outlet, the FBI said the shooting took place at about 5:30 p.m. Monday near West 18th Street and South Union Avenue. The bureau said its agent saw the individual fire at least two shots toward a group of people.
No FBI agents were injured, and authorities reported no other injuries, the bureau said.
Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that Corrales was apprehended at the southern border in October 2023 and later released into the United States during the Biden administration.
The FBI separately confirmed Corrales’ immigration history, saying it learned after the shooting that he was an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who had been taken into custody at the border in 2023 and released during the previous administration.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Australian Homeowners Brace for More Mortgage Rate Pain
Sources also said Corrales had previously been arrested in California, where he was released despite an ICE detainer.
Details surrounding that arrest—including the charges and the California jurisdiction that released him—were not immediately available.
The FBI’s Chicago Division office in the Medical District of Chicago (Nikolas Lanum/News Outlet)
Sources stressed that the Chicago shooting was not part of an immigration enforcement operation. The FBI agent was off duty when he encountered Corrales, and officials described the incident as unrelated to such an operation.
The FBI said its Inspection Division is reviewing the shooting under bureau policies governing incidents involving agents.
The bureau does not expect to provide additional information while the investigation is underway.
The Chicago Police Department confirmed to News Outlet that officers responded to a shooting involving federal agents in the 1700 block of South Union Avenue. Its Investigative Response Team arrived to document the scene, while the department directed further questions to the FBI’s Chicago field office.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office provided News Outlet with a record identifying Corrales as a 27-year-old man under case number 5735.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office provided News Outlet with a record identifying Corrales as a 27-year-old man under case number 5735.
