Pittman calls federal operations without local notification "a recipe for violence" and says "We do not know the facts of the case yet"
Steuart PittmanCounty Executive of Anne Arundel County
In a statement to the press that he reprinted in his January 2 weekly letter, Pittman said federal law enforcement operating "without the traditional notification of local police and often without identification" is "a recipe for violence", said "We do not know the facts of the case yet", and said the county would investigate the shooting as it does all shootings in the county.
“This is exactly the kind of incident that I and my peers across the country have dreaded. We have federal law-enforcement operating in our jurisdictions without the traditional notification of local police and often without identification. It is a recipe for violence, and that is what we experienced in our county today. . We do not know the facts of the case yet, but will be investigating it as we do all shootings in our county. ... All that really matters in this case is that all government employees, including myself, adhere to the law, learn the facts, and uncover the truth.”
Official statement
Reporting
Other statements by Steuart Pittman in this case
- Pittman says federal accounts of Minneapolis lead "all of us" to question what happened in Glen BurnieLater: Challenged the characterization
Where this statement fits
Was ICE justified in shooting Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins in Glen Burnie, Maryland?
On December 24, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stopped a white work van driven by Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins in Glen Burnie, Maryland, and fired at it, wounding him. The Department of Homeland Security said that day that he refused to turn off the engine, rammed ICE vehicles and drove directly at officers, and that they fired defensively; it also said a passenger in his van was injured. On January 8, 2026, Anne Arundel County police said the injured passenger was already in custody in an ICE vehicle, and DHS then said he was in one of the ICE vehicles. An FBI affidavit says two ICE officers fired, one about one to two shots and the other multiple shots, and attributes to them accounts that the van moved toward officers at speed and that one believed he would be struck, while Sousa-Martins told the FBI he drove away because he believed he would be shot. He pleaded guilty on April 27 to destroying government property, and a count of resisting or interfering with federal officers was dismissed. The dispute is whether the officers' decision to fire was warranted by the threat they faced, and whether DHS's account of the encounter was accurate.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
County Executive Steuart Pittman's weekly letter dated January 2, 2026. It reprints the statement he gave the press on the day of the shooting and summarizes the DHS and Baltimore Banner accounts of the passenger's location.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Reports the county police statement of January 8 and reactions from county, state and federal officials. The reactions were made a day after an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
In the letter Pittman wrote that an ICE officer shot at a vehicle in Glen Burnie on Christmas Eve and hit the driver.
After the quotation
The letter said Anne Arundel County police would investigate the shooting and the county State's Attorney's office would decide whether the evidence warranted a prosecution.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the officers' decision to fire and DHS's account of it. Pittman criticizes the conditions of federal operations in the county but says the facts of the shooting are not yet known, so his conclusion depends on the pending investigation. Condemns and defends both lose because he takes no position on the shooting itself.
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More from this case
Read the full caseAttorney Alice Barrett says ICE's use of lethal force against Sousa-Martins "was excessive and dangerous"
“This plea agreement and the hearing at which he was sentenced don't change anything about the bottom line of his case, which is that ICE's use of lethal force against him was excessive and dangerous”Read statement
Magistrate Judge Austin says the court has "some skepticism about some of what the government has presented"
“The court has some skepticism about some of what the government has presented based on some individuals who have not been identified or appeared in court ... This would not be the first case where an affidavit was found not to adequately capture the circumstances”Read statement
Van Hollen says "DHS lied about the circumstances surrounding a nonfatal shooting" in Maryland
“In my State of Maryland, DHS lied about the circumstances surrounding a nonfatal shooting, and they were exposed in their lies because of a local county investigation that showed that DHS was plain wrong.”Read statement
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- Pittman calls federal operations without local notification "a recipe for violence" and says "We do not know the facts of the case yet"
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The Dispute Index. "Pittman calls federal operations without local notification "a recipe for violence" and says "We do not know the facts of the case yet"". First published: 2026-09-25. Last updated: 2026-09-25. https://disputeindex.com/events/2579-in-a-statement-to-the-press-that-he