A federal agent reportedly pointed a gun at a peaceful protester in Chicago, telling him, "You're dead, liberal."
In an order two weeks ago, U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis said that federal agents must issue two warnings if they determine that crowds pose a risk. On Friday, she ordered Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino to personally appear in court this week after he appeared to violate that order, which barred agents from deploying teargas and other weapons against journalists, protesters, and anyone not posing a threat.
A notice filed by the Chicago Headline Club over the weekend presented additional evidence that Bovino and other agents had violated the judge's order.
According to the filing, "Bovino appeared to exhibit disregard for the Court's order limiting federal agents' use of force, including crowd control devices" during a protest last Thursday by deploying teargas without any audible warnings.
"Defendant Bovino threw a second tear gas cannister, again without any apparent justification or warning. At the same time, another federal agent shot what appears to be a teargas cannister into the crowd at head level," the filing continued. "[T]he government is perpetrating extreme violence against peaceful and innocent American civilians in order to provoke a reaction that the government then uses as an after-the-fact justification for the violence it has already used."
Despite Ellis's order requiring agents to wear body cameras, the filing noted that an agent was caught on video without a body camera or any other "obvious visible identification" before shooting defendant Enrique Bahena in the neck with a pepper ball.
"As agents were driving away, they pointed a pepper ball gun and then a real gun at Declarant Chris Gentry, a combat veteran who was lawfully standing on the side of the road voicing his opposition as agents were driving by in their vehicles," the filing alleged. "The agent who pointed the real gun at Mr. Gentry's face said 'bang, bang,' and 'you're dead, liberal.'"
