Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and wounded an undocumented immigrant with a criminal past on Thursday as he tried to flee the scene with a 5-year-old child in the back seat of his car, officials said.
The shooting occurred during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation on Marble Hill Avenue around 4 p.m., the sources said.
A source said the person shot, identified by law enforcement as Oscar Belgal, was apparently inside a vehicle when at least one officer opened fire. Belgal should survive.
Department of Homeland Security officials said Oscar Belgal was linked to the Trinitarios street gang. They said he had been arrested several times before for theft, drugs and other crimes.
DHS said that as ICE-ERO agents attempted to enter his car and make the arrest, Belgal “rammed” into the ICE vehicles. A senior law enforcement official said at least five shots were fired by law enforcement. Belgal is hospitalized in stable condition with a neck injury, officials said. The five-year-old was not injured and is back with his loved ones, an official said.
An extensive police investigation focused on a black sedan believed to be the vehicle involved in the shooting. A senior official said a 5-year-old child was in the back seat of the car at the time of the incident.
Investigators said Belgal was from the Dominican Republic. “He has ties to the Trinitarios gang, the same gang that brutally shot and killed a CBP agent last year,” DHS said in a statement.
Multiple law enforcement sources reported that an ICE team was in the area looking for a man with a criminal record. A senior official said the suspect had a previous arrest for robbery that resulted in a robbery conviction and an open drug case.
“The NYPD was not involved in the incident and was not on scene at the time of the shooting. The injured person is at a nearby hospital, conscious and receiving medical treatment,” the NYPD said.
Dozens of demonstrators showed up outside Allen Presbyterian Hospital in Columbia, where Belgal is being treated, to protest ICE and the shooting in which a child was in the back seat of the suspect’s car.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a statement condemning the shooting.
“This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation. I have called the President; when we speak, I will demand that he end all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand idly by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”
The DHS in turn criticized New York’s sanctuary policy.
“This criminal illegal alien was arrested by the New York Police Department on December 7, 2023, but was released into the community days later due to reckless Democratic sanctuary policies that put American lives at risk.”
DHS was joined by the FBI to help investigate the shooting. The New York Police Department was on scene assisting with crowd control.
This ICE-related shooting of a suspected gang member in New York follows other controversial ICE-related law enforcement actions by the Trump administration. In January in Minneapolis, Renee Good was shot and killed in her vehicle as she walked forward and turned as an ICE agent approached her car. This incident sparked national protests.
DHS officials said Belgal may be linked to a gang involved in scooter thefts. Two gang members were recently convicted of participating in the robbery and shooting of an off-duty customs agent in a park in northern Manhattan.
Two sources and a preliminary DHS summary claim that Belgal attempted to “ram his vehicle” at the ERO agents.
A call to a public defender who represents Belgal for a previous drug arrest did not result in a comment.
The New York Police Department said it was not at the scene when the shots were fired and its officers were not involved in the incident.
Police said it was their officers who rendered aid and took the injured man to hospital.
Video obtained by News 4 shows the aftermath of the scene as well as Belgal bloodied and handcuffed while waiting to be taken to the hospital.
Protesters first gathered at the scene of the shooting, then marched to New York’s Allen Presbyterian Hospital where they clashed with police.
Iris Rosa heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene. She said the shots were fired as the children were walking home from school.
Rosa said she saw several ICE agents surrounding a man on the ground who was handcuffed.
“I kept asking him if he was OK, and he was like, ‘The kid! They shot me, and I was shot in the neck, I’m dying. Help me!” said Rosa.
Governor Hochul also released a statement online.
Read the full ICE statement
ICE released a statement regarding the incident.
“On October 8, at approximately 4 p.m. EST, ICE agents were conducting a targeted enforcement operation in the Bronx, New York, to arrest an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic who had prior convictions for robbery and several prior arrests for assault, theft, drug possession, and weapons possession. He has ties to the Trinitarios gang, the same gang that brutally shot and killed a CBP officer last year,” the release said.
“This criminal illegal alien was arrested by the New York Police Department on December 7, 2023, but was released into the community days later due to reckless Democratic sanctuary policies that put American lives at risk,” they added.
“During the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the illegal alien criminal was injured.”
“ICE agents immediately rendered assistance. The individual is alive and is at a local hospital. The FBI and HSI are on scene. The incident remains under investigation. More information will be shared as it becomes available,” the statement said.
“When dangerous illegal aliens are released onto the streets by radical sanctuary politicians, our agents are forced to make sweeping arrests in the community in unpredictable and dangerous environments. Our agents should not have to risk their lives, and innocent Americans should not have to face unnecessary danger, because sanctuary politicians refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement,” the ICE statement concluded.
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