Federal agents charged a Baltimore man who they shot during a chaotic Christmas Eve arrest attempt.
GLEN BURNIE, Md. — Federal agents have charged a Baltimore man who they shot on Christmas Eve while they trying to capture him in Glen Burnie.
Law enforcement charged Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins with resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with and destruction of government property.
According to court documents, the officers say they initially began following Sousa-Martins, a Portuguese national, after they ran the plates on his van in a Lowe’s parking lot.
The officers were able to identify Sousa-Martins when he came out of the store. They say that, according to a Department of Homeland Security database, Sousa-Martins was listed as a non-US citizen who had overstayed his B-2 visa status since 2008.
Six officers in five different vehicles then followed Sousa-Martins to an address on West Court, where he said he was performing electrical work.
The officers’ vehicles surrounded Sousa-Martins’ van, and then agents approached him.
According to court documents, the officer shouted at Sousa-Martins to get out of the vehicle. The man shouted back, “Why are you doing this? I’m a US citizen,” and “No, I’m not coming out.”
Sousa-Martins’ own account, the officers said, in Spanish, “We’ve run your tags, we know you’re an overstay – we’re going to break the glass.” According to Sousa-Martins, he told the officers he speaks English in an effort to “de-escalate.” He also noted that they were angry and “at a 10” in intensity, according to court documents.
Sousa-Martins said he was scared and was uncertain that they were law enforcement. The officers say they wore tactical vests and patches indicating they were with immigration enforcement.
After they smashed his window, Sousa-Martins was determined to escape, fearing that he would be shot.
According to the officers, he slammed into their vehicles and then sped off, crashing between two buildings.
Before he could get far, two officers fired their guns, with one bullet hitting him in the leg and the other in his upper back on the right side.
A doctor indicated that Sousa-Martins had suffered a collapsed lung.
An initial Department of Homeland Security report suggested that a second man had been shot during the incident.
Anne Arundel County police, however, said that the second man had been arrested earlier in the day in Southern Maryland. He was allegedly injured when Sousa-Martins rammed one of the vehicles.