An investigation is ongoing after a man and a deputy US marshal were shot and injured on Tuesday morning during an immigration enforcement operation that took place in south Los Angeles, police said.
Reports from the Los Angeles police department said the incident was reported shortly before 9am and involved a federal agent being shot.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement given to Fox News later confirmed that the deputy marshal and a man suspected of illegal entry into the US were shot and injured during what DHS called a “targeted traffic stop”.
During the operation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents surrounded and boxed in a man in his vehicle. Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS assistant secretary, also noted that the man used his vehicle to ram the federal agents’ vehicles in an attempt to flee.
“Fearing for the safety of the public and law enforcement, our officers followed their training and fired defensive shots,” McLaughlin said.
Federal officers opened fire on the man, who was shot in the elbow. The deputy marshal was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet, the DHS said. Both were taken to the hospital.
“These are the consequences of conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest,” McLaughlin’s statement read.
“We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement.”