A federal gun possession case was unsealed Thursday against a man matching the description the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had provided for the alleged gunman.
Federal officials announced earlier this month that a gunman had been arrested for firing at U.S. Border Patrol agents amid chaotic protests in Little Village earlier this month, as the agency’s aggressive Chicago area campaign was drawing to a close.
So far, no charges have been announced in the alleged shooting in the nearly two weeks since officials claimed gunfire erupted in the 2500 block of South Kedzie Avenue.
But on Thursday, a federal gun possession case was unsealed against a man matching the description the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had provided for the suspected shooter.
Hector Gomez, 45, faces a single count of possessing a firearm as an undocumented immigrant, piling on the charges he already faces in Cook County in relation to his arrest Nov. 8 in the 3100 block of West 26th Street.
Gomez was taken into custody hours after the alleged shooting, not far from where Chicago police had found shell casings. Local police found him with a handgun in his lap as he sat in a black Jeep Wrangler, according to an arrest report. A woman told officers that he had walked toward her while aiming the gun and “laughing profusely.”
Gomez, who is originally from Mexico, remains held at Cook County Jail on felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm, records show.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security initially reported on social media that “an unknown male driving a black Jeep fired shots at agents and fled the scene.
