A Houston woman who was shot by FBI agents after allegedly threatening them with a machete is facing federal charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas announced on Friday.
Jennifer Jesselle Perez-Rodriguez, 28, was taken into custody and charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer in connection with the incident on April 17.
Agents were driving down Anderson Road in unmarked cars when Perez-Rodriguez allegedly walked into the roadway holding a machete, according to a criminal complaint. The woman then began swinging the machete and moved towards two of the vehicles.
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The agents activated a siren on one of the cars as Perez-Rodriguez started to run towards them, the complaint alleges. One agent opened a car door and instructed her to drop the machete, which she refused to do.
As Perez-Rodriguez failed to follow orders, the agent pulled out his gun and began shooting her until she was no longer a threat, the complaint says. She was transported to a hospital with wounds from the gunfire.
If convicted, Perez-Rodriguez faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000.
According to witnesses, Perez-Rodriguez had been brutally attacked by at least four people before she went to grab her machete and started searching for her attackers, at which point she encountered federal agents.
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“I saw when the woman went inside the store, and she supposedly had a bag with a machete inside,” one witness told Fox 26. “She came back outside, but they were no longer there. So she went out to the road with the machete.”
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