An ICE officer, ‘fearing for his life,’ shoots California motorist

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot a driver on a residential Ontario street on Thursday morning, Oct. 30, after the man pulled his SUV ahead of ICE and then went into reverse, attempting to run the officers over, federal officials said.

The man, a U.S. citizen, was struck by gunfire on his shoulder, family members later told the Southern California News Group.

His family identified him as Carlos Jimenez, 24, of Ontario.

Jimenez was taken to a hospital by a family member. Blood was streaked across the steering wheel of his SUV, and dripped across the side of the driver’s seat, the car’s center console and the armrest of the passenger seat in a photo taken by Jimenez’s brother. The window of the back passenger side door of the silvery blue Lexus SUV was partially shattered.

At about 6:30 a.m., ICE officers had pulled over a different vehicle in the 2800 block of South Vineyard Avenue for an undisclosed reason.

The second driver, after getting ahead of the ICE vehicle, was asked by ICE to leave the area.

Instead, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, the suspect put his vehicle in reverse in the direction of officers — prompting the officer to fire at the vehicle.

The suspect “attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “An ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle.”

The driver abandoned his vehicle and fled, McLaughlin said. The discrepancy between that statement and Jimenez’s brothers’ account that he drove his car home could not immediately be reconciled. The car was parked at an angle in the front carport of Jimenez’s home on Thursday afternoon, where his brother photographed it.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of...

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating a shooting by an ICE officer on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 in Ontario. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

Photos of Carlos Jimenez’s SUV show a broken back window and blood on the driver’s seat, steering wheel and center console. Family members said Jimenez was shot in the shoulder on Oct. 30. (Photo Courtesy of Brayan Jimenez)

Ontario Police surround nearby homes after a shooting involving an ICE officer on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 in Ontario. The man struck was identified as Carlos Jimenez, 24, of Ontario. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

Congresswoman Norma Torres hands out resource packets to neighbors near the scene of a shooting involving an ICE officer on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Ontario. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

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“This is another example of the threats our ICE officers are facing day in and day out as they risk their lives to enforce the law and arrest criminals,” she said.

Jimenez’s brothers sat outside the home where he lives at Country Meadows Mobile Home Park on Thursday afternoon. They had not spoken to their brother about his account of the shooting.

Their brother, Carlos Jimenez, was driving to his job at a food bank in Baldwin Park on Thursday morning. He would have been driving to work alone. Brayan Jimenez, 20, who lives with his brother, said he had just woken up when his brother came back into the home, bleeding from where he had been shot in the shoulder.

“He came in running, screaming that he got shot,” Brayan said. Jimenez did not say what happened, other than that he had been shot. A family member drove him to the hospital.

Francisco Jimenez, 27, another brother, said Jimenez does a lot of community activities related to the food bank he works at.

“He says it’s f—– up, but doesn’t continue the conversation,” he said of his brother’s sentiments regarding recent immigration enforcement activities. “He talks more about the Dodgers than anything else,” he said.

When asked if DHS’ account of what happened Thursday morning sounds like something their brother would have done, both men shook their heads no.

Carlos Jimenez’s wife, Marissa, her voice tinged with sadness, said he was in stable condition on Thursday afternoon, but she did not know what hospital he was in. She declined to comment further.

Jimenez was booked into the West Valley Detention Center on Thursday afternoon, jail logs show. He is being held without bail.

Kevin Esquivel, 19, was driving home Thursday morning when he came across the evolving scene.

He saw a law enforcement SUV, with its doors open and officers standing by them, stopped on Vineyard with emergency lights on.

He then heard several “pops.”

Richard Ermer, 20, who lives in the nearby Country Meadows Mobile Home Park, was awakened by the gunshots.

He said he heard as many as five — followed by sirens.

Ontario police, who were not involved in the shooting, were asked to provide “emergency assistance” by DHS and provided security and traffic control, they said in a statement.

This was at least the second shooting by federal officials this month.

On Oct. 21, a U.S. deputy marshal and a suspect were wounded by gunfire during a traffic stop in South Los Angeles that turned violent during the capture of an accused undocumented immigrant, according to federal officials.

That suspect rammed his car into law enforcement vehicles and tried to escape, with officers firing weapons and hitting him in the elbow, authorities said. A marshal suffered a hit in a hand by a ricocheting bullet.

The suspect, Richard Parias Ramales, is a popular TikTok creator who goes by Richard Noticias LA and Richard LA and posts videos and does live streams throughout Los Angeles in Spanish, often providing viewers with law enforcement responses and arrests.

Rep. Norma J. Torres, D-Ontario, went door to door in the Country Meadows Mobile Home Park on Thursday, looking for witnesses to the shooting.

“I’m out here trying to get answers to all of my questions,” Torres said. “Number one, did they make a notification to the city of Ontario Police Department that they were going to do an activity here?

“Number two, with the officer-involved shooting, I want the video. I want to see for myself to confirm the information they are releasing is true. Time and time and time again, we have proven that they have lied to the American people by releasing false information.”

In this instance, Torres said, “Homeland Security has been very coy.”

Torres’ staff members carried with them a resource guide for immigrants that includes a list of their rights and a form Torres said she hopes that they will fill out that pre-authorizes members of Congress to visit them in detention facilities.

An ICE officer, ‘fearing for his life,’ shoots California motorist – The Mercury News

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