ICE Agent Shoots Dominican Man in Bronx While 5-Year-Old Sits in Vehicle

A 28-year-old man from the Dominican Republic was shot and wounded by federal immigration agents Thursday during a targeted enforcement operation in the Bronx, according to New York City officials. It was the first shooting involving ICE agents in New York City since President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The encounter unfolded just after 4 p.m. in the Marble Hill neighborhood when an ICE agent discharged a weapon into the man’s vehicle, which also held a 5-year-old in the back seat. The wounded man was identified as Oscar Belgal; the child is believed to be his son and was not injured, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters late Thursday, “Thank God that child is physically unharmed,” while expressing outrage over the shooting. Mamdani said he had spoken to Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to negotiate Belgal’s release from NYPD custody, but “those negotiations were unsuccessful,” and Belgal was taken into ICE custody.

Belgal’s injuries included a graze wound to the neck and were not considered life-threatening, a law enforcement source told CNN. Police transported him to the hospital; the child was located safe and is in the care of family members, Tisch said.

Citing NYPD camera video, Tisch said the man was backing into a parking spot when one plainclothes federal law enforcement officer approached the driver’s side window with a gun drawn, and another plainclothes officer approached by the driver’s side headlight. The vehicle began moving forward and went out of camera view, and the camera did not capture the gun being discharged.

“Based on evidence collected at the scene, we know that at least one ICE agent discharged 7 rounds, striking the driver in the neck below his left ear,” Tisch said. At least seven shell casings were recovered, and the vehicle showed ballistic damage to the front windshield and a shattered back windshield.

NYPD officers who responded encountered several men in construction-style attire, face masks, and at least one carrying a gun, and found the injured man handcuffed and seated on the ground. Witnesses told police they saw a man dressed in a bright yellow construction vest holding a gun and heard five to six gunshots and people screaming. Video purportedly from the scene shows a man matching that description holding a semi-automatic rifle and wearing an ICE badge around his neck.

DHS said Belgal has ties to the Trinitarios gang, a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, and prior arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession, and weapons possession. Tisch said Belgal had two prior arrests in New York City: a 2023 robbery in which he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and received five years probation, and a 2025 criminal sale of a controlled substance case that is still pending.

Federal authorities have not explained what led up to the shooting. DHS said agents immediately provided aid after the man was shot, and two agents were injured in the encounter and were treated at a local hospital; one may have been injured in a car accident, though it is unclear whether that accident was part of the attempted arrest or response.

Mamdani sharply criticized the agents’ appearance during the operation. “They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces. There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents,” he said. He said he had demanded that ICE stop its enforcement actions in New York City, arguing the actions “are making the city less safe” and “making the city terrified.”

The shooting occurred the same week that ICE leadership told agents to increase arrests by 1,000 more people daily, according to two sources familiar with the verbal directive. CNN asked DHS whether the officers involved were wearing body cameras; the agency referred CNN to its original statement, which made no mention of body cameras.

Reporting by CNN. Read the original report: ICE Agent Shoots Dominican Man in Bronx While 5-Year-Old Sits in Vehicle.