Department of Homeland Security changes story of Maryland ICE shooting after local police release contradicting details

By Karina Tsui, CNN

(CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security has altered its account of an immigration enforcement-related shooting in a Baltimore suburb on Christmas Eve after details in its initial statement were contradicted by local police.

On December 24, DHS issued a statement saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “defensively fired” at a van occupied by two undocumented immigrants during an enforcement operation in Glen Burnie, Maryland, after the driver rammed ICE vehicles while trying to flee and “then drove his van directly at ICE officers, attempting to run them over.”

The driver was shot and wounded, and the passenger was injured when the van crashed seconds later, according to the original statement from DHS.

The department now says the injured man was not in the van but “was a passenger in one of the ICE vehicles that was rammed,” according to a new statement to CNN from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

The changed account comes as DHS faces increased scrutiny over the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent last week – and more broadly over the veracity of the information the department puts forward regarding federal officers’ actions while carrying out President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown.

The new detail in the Maryland ICE shooting was first announced Thursday by the Anne Arundel County Police Department, which is investigating the incident.

“To clarify preliminary information released publicly on the shooting involving ICE agents in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on December 24, 2025: one ICE detainee who was injured during the incident was already in custody in an ICE vehicle, and the other individual injured was struck by gunfire while operating a separate vehicle,” the police department said.

Anne Arundel County police said their investigation into the incident is ongoing and emphasized that its officers do not enforce immigration law or conduct ICE operations.

The ICE officers were conducting “a targeted immigration enforcement operation” in Glen Burnie when they confronted the van, McLaughlin said.

The two undocumented migrants were identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, a Portuguese man who was driving the van, and Salvadoran national Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, the man authorities now say was in an ICE vehicle.

Officers approached the van and asked Sousa-Martins to turn off the engine, but he refused and attempted to leave the scene, ramming ICE vehicles, and “then (driving) his van directly at ICE officers,” McLaughlin said.

“Fearing for their lives and public safety, officers defensively fired their service weapons, striking the driver,” she said.

Sousa-Martins then wrecked his car between two buildings, McLaughlin said, although photos posted by DHS on X on the day of the incident show a white van crashed into a tree. DHS has not responded to CNN’s request for clarification on that detail.

Officers immediately gave medical care to the two men and took them to the hospital, McLaughlin said, stating no ICE agents were injured.

Sousa-Martins is currently being held at a detention center in Bowling Green, Virginia, according to ICE detainee records. Serrano-Esquivel was “treated for whiplash at the hospital” on the day of the incident and “is now in ICE custody,” the DHS said Monday.

The December incident is one in a series of violent encounters involving federal officers since Trump ramped up immigration enforcement during his second term.

Last week’s fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good – a 37-year-old mother of three who was in her car when she was shot – has drawn outcry and massive protests both in Minneapolis and across the country. A day after Good was killed, a Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, shot and injured two people, who authorities said were associated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

As with the Maryland incident, DHS officials allege both Good and the driver in Portland “weaponized” their vehicles and targeted law enforcement.

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CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to this report.