Two immigrants suspected to be in the country illegally were on the run Thursday after allegedly attempting to ram their vehicle into law enforcement officials during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the Black Forest area, according to an ICE spokesperson.
An officer reportedly fired three shots into the vehicle, which fled and was later found abandoned, the spokesperson said. No injuries were reported.
Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order around 10:30 a.m. Thursday for a quarter-mile radius in the 9900 block of Burgess Road between Windmill and Greentree roads in the Black Forest neighborhood, according to Peak Alerts and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. Officials lifted the order around 6 p.m.
“Secure your home/business and stay away from doors and windows. Shelter in a safe place until further notice,” the Sheriff’s Office said on Peak Alerts.
Screen grab from Peak Alerts of the shelter-in-place order.
Courtesy of Peak Alerts
Gazette reporters saw at least two dozen unmarked vehicles on Burgess Road and deputies from the Sheriff’s Office blocking off the area.
Kurt Smith, a sheriff’s spokesperson, said there was a second scene by the intersection of Vollmer and Poco roads that’s connected to the ICE investigation. That is located about 3 miles from where the confrontation with the suspects occurred.
The second scene appeared to be at a housing development called Timber Ridge, where authorities were reportedly questioning construction workers.
Representatives from the Colorado Rapid Response Network, a freelance group that tracks ICE activity across the state, were in the Timber Ridge neighborhood Thursday afternoon talking to neighbors and workers who showed up after the initial response. CORRN volunteer Erik Mattson claimed that rubber bullet casings were found outside one of the homes.
Elizabeth Guerrero, 16, came to the construction site in the afternoon after receiving a video from her uncle that morning. Guerrero said her uncle’s video showed a fellow worker at the site being detained while others ran away. She had not heard from her uncle or a family friend since.
While a sheriff’s deputy said the response at the construction site was part of a criminal investigation, Guerrero worried that it was targeted because her parents were Mexican immigrants who owned the construction company.
“I’m thankful for the officers, because they are doing their job, but at the same time, they’re not doing the right thing. They have a blind eye which somebody is covering and they don’t want to tell other families what is truly happening,” Guerrero said.