An ICE officer shot a man in New York City on Thursday as the man’s 5-year-old child was in the car, officials said, prompting anger from protesters and the city’s mayor who called it “an outrage.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that the shooting happened at around 4 p.m. during a “targeted enforcement operation” as federal officers were seeking a “criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic” who had a prior conviction for grand larceny.
“During the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the criminal illegal alien was injured,” the department said, without naming the victim.
The man who was shot was identified as Oscar Belgal, 28, according to the New York Police Department, four law enforcement sources and past court records.
At least one ICE agent fired seven rounds, and the man was struck in the neck, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Thursday night, as protesters shouted nearby.
The injured man was taken by the NYPD to a hospital in stable condition after the shooting, she said.
FBI agents perform an investigation at the scene of the shooting on Thursday. Seth Wenig / AP
An NYPD surveillance camera captured part of the encounter but not the shooting, she said.
The video shows the person who was shot backing into a parking space, one plainclothes federal law enforcement officer approach the driver’s side with a gun drawn, and a second officer approach by the driver’s side headlight, she said.
“The vehicle then starts to move forward and goes out of camera view,” Tisch said.
That car was later found with gunshot damage to the front windshield and the back window shattered, and an ICE vehicle was found with damage to its left front panel, and a lower panel disconnected, she added.
Bystander video recorded of the aftermath shows the wounded man sitting on the ground in handcuffs and talking to officers.
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Mamdani says shooting of man by ICE was ‘an outrage’
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Two 911 calls were made about shots fired, and a federal agent called 911 requesting the fire department and then the NYPD, she said.
NYPD officers responding to an unrelated call in the area also heard the shots and responded, Tisch said.
“When they arrived, they encountered several men in various forms of attire, including some in construction-style vests, face masks and at least one carrying a long gun,” Tisch said.
The shot person was handcuffed and seated on the ground, she said. He had been shot in the neck below the left ear, she added.
FBI agents gather around the scene of the shooting.Seth Wenig / AP
Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned ICE as “rotten to its core” and he said the agency, which has been criticized for tactics and immigration crackdowns under the Trump administration, has been acting with impunity.
“There is no explanation for these tactics. There is no explanation for federal officers firing this many rounds into a car that has a 5-year-old in the car,” Mamdani said. “There is no explanation.”
Mamdani said the man’s child was in the back seat and physically unharmed. The child was believed to be the man’s son, Tisch said.
The shooting happened in the Marble Hill neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, near the Bronx, Mamdani said. He described it as a residential area.
“We are right there by a subway, and the pretext of ICE is, in their words, to keep this country safe,” Mamdani said. “How is it keeping anyone safe to have, as you just heard from the police commissioner, individuals wearing construction vests and masks with long guns?”
“Residents have no idea if these are law enforcement agents or if they are simply attacking someone on the street,” he said.
Protesters clash with police near the scene.Seth Wenig / AP
The person who was shot had two prior arrests in New York City, Tisch said. One, in 2023, was for robbery and he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and received five years probation, she said.
The other was for criminal sale of a controlled substance in 2025, and that case is still pending, she said.
DHS said that the man who was shot has associations to the Trinitarios gang.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she spoke with Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the shooting Thursday evening, urging them to halt ICE enforcement operations in the state.
“I also asked that any body camera footage of the shooting be released to the public so we can establish the facts and get to the truth,” she said.