Despite nearly 30 years of demands for transparency, the DOJ’s law enforcement agencies release little data about whom they shoot, why and when, and they rarely use body cameras.
Photo Illustration of US Marshals working an operation; a silhouette of a handgun; and a report of an officer involved shooting from the FBI. Use of force by federal law enforcement agencies remains largely a black box, free from public scrutiny. NBC News
During an early Friday dinner rush in 2020, shots rang out as teen workers at a Texas Roadhouse outside Detroit took to-go orders to customers in the parking lot. Bullets whizzed overhead as people ducked for cover, witnesses said. Stray rounds hit parked vehicles, a restaurant window and a wall, photos show.
Earlier that day, FBI agents had decided to arrest a man suspected of having ties to a domestic extremist group on federal weapons charges outside the steakhouse.
When the gunfire stopped, an agent had been shot in the hip and the suspect was dead — having bled out just feet from the restaurant’s entrance, according to local police reports and video.
An employee who was preparing food inside when the shooting began recalled a bullet passing inches from her head. “It was the most horrifying experience I’ve ever had in my life,” she said.
The Untouchables: NBC News investigates how federal law enforcement officials are able to harm people with little to no accountability.
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