Pastor Shot in the Head by ICE Sues Trump Over First Amendment
By: Malcolm Ferguson (The New Republic)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump's takeover of Chicago is getting more dangerous by the day.
A Chicago pastor is suing the Trump administration after ICE agents shot him in the head with pepper balls.
Last month, Reverend David Black, the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was shot right in the face with a pepper ball by an ICE agent standing on a rooftop above him while he was protesting at the Broadview ICE facility. Black can be seen with his arms spread wide, praying at the masked, armed agents above him, before being shot in the head at least twice and falling to his knees. Black said he could hear ICE laughing at him when it happened.
The video has now gone viral.
So much for "Christian values":
Rev. David Black stood in silent prayer outside a Chicago ICE facility.
ICE agents fired pepper balls from the rooftop — one struck him in the head.
They didn't just attack immigrants.
They attacked a minister mid-prayer. pic.twitter.com/c1AXYCjtt5 — Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) October 8, 2025
"I invited them to repentance," Black told Religion News Service. "I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming."
The lawsuit hinges on ICE infringing upon protesters' First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and religion, as agents have displayed "a pattern of extreme brutality" aimed to "silence the press and civilians."
Black is not the only clergy member involved in the lawsuit. Unitarian minister Beth Johnson was "fired upon without warning or justification as she and other protesters and clergy members stood on the sidewalk singing 'We Shall Overcome' and other traditional songs of protest," according to the lawsuit. United Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was also shot at with pepper balls.
It's obvious in the video that Black—standing out among the crowd in his preacher's garb—was absolutely a target, and it's likely that the other faith leaders can say the same.
The Trump administration accuses Black of trying to "dictate crowd-control policy in ways that would tie the hands of federal law enforcement officers," while online MAGA has dismissed him as "antifa" for his vocal support of equal rights in Chicago.
More on what Trump's agents are up to:"Do Something B*tch": Damning Video Shows CBP Agent Shooting ProtesterMost Recent PostRobert McCoy/October 9, 2025/9:13 a.m. ET
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In the video of this the minister is shown with his arms extended up at the ICE agents on the roof, apparently appealing to their consciences in the name of God, in other words praying for them. A few seconds later he is shot in the head with a pepper ball.
The scene reminded me a touch of this scene from War Of The Worlds where the minister is trying to use religion to appeal to the invaders and in response they incinerate him.
AAACCCKKK! AAACCCKKK! AAACCCKKK!
Can't tell if the agent was actually aiming at the pastor but the response is interesting. Maybe not all things are seen in a video clip.
“What this clipped video doesn’t show is that these agitators were blocking an ICE vehicle from leaving the federal facility—impeding operations,” McLaughlin wrote in a lengthy statement on social platform X.
“Over and over again, law enforcement ordered these agitators to move off of federal property so the vehicle could move. Law enforcement verbally warned these agitators that they would use force if they did not move and stop impeding operations. They did not comply,” she added.
The video doesnt show any blocking of vehicles.
The video also does not show anything other that one specific angle for a specific 25 or so seconds. From what I can see the video also does not show anyone specifically aiming at the head.
How many angles do you need of an unarmed person on the ground being hit with a projectile fired from a rooftop 25 feet above him?
Soldier points weapon. Hits unarmed man in head. How do you think aiming works? Is there no outrageous behavior you won’t apologize for?
I can see why you are so desperately trying to argue an alternate reality.
It would be bad if Trump's ICE officers fired upon a protester ... especially a pastor. Right? That would be something you would criticize. Right?
Maybe the theory is that the ICE on the rooftop tripped over his untied shoelaces and triggered his pepper ball weapon accidentally.
After watching the video a few times, who were they actually aiming at, a person walked up to him in full gear as protection from the pepper balls and tried to move the pastor when he got hit. Another thing is who fired on the soldiers just before the pastor got hit, notice the puff of smoke/dust at the top edge of the building where they were standing?
What I am saying is there is video missing and it is possible the agent did not aim for anyones head. Did you see him aim or just point in general direction? It is also possible that McLaughlins comment was not true. Pretending you know what happened with limited information is just saying what you want, not necessarily what actually happened.
The puff of smoke you are referring to at the top of the building is coming from the ICE cops gun as he fires it.
Yes there is something not right with the video, none of the soldiers have a raised weapon, no one is aiming at anything, yet there are pepper balls being fired, from where?
That is some really delayed ammunition, I could've thrown a baseball faster than that. And still there is no raised weapon aiming at anything.
You can see the smoke coming from the tip of his weapon. This is not complicated.
I can see why you want to jump to a conclusion without all the facts. Ignore the possibility of the response being true and go with limited information because it goes along with I hate Trump narrative.
In the video we see smoke from two pepperballs, one hits the ground near the fence and the other hits the minister in the head. There are no pepperballs coming from any other direction.
Possible but that would be an awful slow pepperball.
All of them would be nice. It would either help the pastors case or ICEs case. It seems the folks that would like more angles are not interested in the truth but afraid of what they might show.
The hope is the feds or someone else has more video that they will come forward with that will shed light on exactly what happened.
So one guy shot both shots without actually aiming?
Pointing is not aiming unless you are Yusuf Dikeç
The pepperball hits him on the top of his head. How would that work unless it came from above?
They shot him in the head with a projectile. It doesnt matter where they were aiming. There was no violence visible from the protesters, there was no car being blocked, it was just sadistic cops trying to intimidate people.
That is going to be pretty tough to prove.
folks not interested
On further review, actually you see smoke from three pepperballs, the one you say hits near the fence actually hits the minister in the arm or hip area, that's number one, the soldier then lowers the weapon to go lower and hits the edge of the building, that's number two, so he raises the weapon (actually an airgun so no smoke) and that's when he hits him in the head and that's number three. The thing is the soldier is not aiming to hit him in the head for all the shots are from the hip.
Yeah, ignore the fact that this is shown on video.
The support for Trump nowadays is so feeble, so absurd. It is irresponsible, irrational, and unpatriotic.
Yeah, ignore what McLaughlin had to say, the fact that the video is only a partial view of what was going on at the time, the fact that the officer never actually aimed at anyone. While I am saying wait until all the information in before coming to a conclusion you ,et,el are saying you don't need anymore information and have concluded Trumps ICE is guilty, in some cases declaring "it was just sadistic cops trying to intimidate people".
The unsubstantiated and unproven attacks on Trump and anything to do with him are now so feeble as to be absurd. It is irresponsible, irrational, and unpatriotic and shows partisanship, a lack of critical thinking and again shows a fear of waiting until all the facts are in before declaring guilt.
So, you’re defending someone who randomly points a weapon at a group of people and fires indiscriminately?
There is no evidence to support that claim.
Firing a weapon at a crowd of people without aiming does not make this better.
The fact that you seem to think it’s fine to discharge any weapon without aiming, and particularly at a group of people, is actually insane.
The fact you came to that conclusion based on what I said is insane
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It’s right there in your comments. Your main argument is that this is fine because the guy wasn’t aiming when he discharged his weapon.
Stop gaslighting. You keep claiming we aren’t seeing what happened, even though we have video to look at. You want us all to be ok with the pastor getting shot in the head because Private Lunkhead wasn’t actually aiming.
I’d ask you what you facts you think you’re waiting on, but I don’t think you’re genuinely serious.
And from that video we can assume other things, pepperballs are so soft that when he was hit the first time he didn't even flinch or look down and he was the only one there at that spot, which means everyone that stands in that spot in the driveway was being pepperballed and moved behind the curbs where they were safe from that. He had to have known this and stood there anyways, the man in full gear walks up to him, the soldiers up top don't know his intentions and figuring a crowd forming again in that spot shoots pepperballs at them to get them to move away, note: the man that walks up is trying to keep the minister from being pepperballed and also ducks and puts his back to the soldiers knowing full well that anyone in that spot gets pepperballed.
The minister is suing on 1st amendment grounds, not injuries. But all he had to do was say whatever he had to say behind the curbs or further away.
Stop making stuff up
I don't care if you are or not.
It is called a complete investigation, not just an investigation to give you what you want to hear.
A very credible theory.
You are doing the same thing Trump supporters typically do. Kick the can. Deflect. Claim that we need to wait and see.
The evidence is overwhelming that ICE under Trump has some serious issues. But you claim to not see it.
Blind support for Trump, no matter what he says of does, is irrational, irresponsible and unpatriotic.
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It is a bullshit excuse.
One can always claim that they are waiting for more evidence. It is just deflection.
Attempting at this point to claim that your posts do not predominantly support Trump is absurd.
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I’m sure that if you’re desperate enough to apologize for these tactics, you could assume pretty much anything you need to.
I don’t need to make up anything. Your relentless defense of the indefensible speaks for itself. Maybe you should apply for ICE since you think it’s such a good idea to fire weapons at harmless people.
That’s obviously not true or you wouldn’t keep trying to convince us.
Exactly the kind of empty response I expected.
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Because they weren’t. They were standing on the sidewalk. There is no vehicle in the video. The facility’s gate is closed. They weren’t blocking anything.
The sidewalk is not federal property.