ICE shoots man in New York City during 'targeted enforcement'

A man alleged by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be a gang member in the country illegally was shot and wounded by a federal agent Thursday on the border of Manhattan and the Bronx, city and federal officials said.

At a news conference late Thursday at the scene, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the man as Oscar Belgal, 28. The shooting occurred about 4 p.m., according to the NYPD.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, posted on X that "an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the criminal illegal alien was injured. ICE officers immediately rendered aid. The individual is alive and at a local hospital. The FBI and [Homeland Security Investigations] are on the scene. The incident remains under investigation. More information will be shared as it becomes available."

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who joined Tisch at the news conference, said he spoke with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for two hours after the shooting in an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate the man's release.

"Just moments ago, ICE put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away," Mamdani added. "Let me say this plainly: What happened today was an outrage."

In a statement late Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said: "There is still much we don’t know about what happened in Marble Hill. But initial reports indicate ICE agents fired into a vehicle with a five-year-old child inside. Any trained law enforcement officer knows how easily that could have ended in tragedy. By the grace of God, that child appears to have escaped without physical injury."

The DHS, which oversees ICE, posted on X that agents were conducting a "targeted enforcement operation" to arrest a man from the Dominican Republic with "associations to the Trinitarios gang," which "brutally killed a [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] officer last year," the statement said. He also has "a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, and multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession," according to the department.

Mamdani. speaking at the news conference as people nearby continued protesting the shooting, said ICE agents conducted their operation in construction uniforms and masks when "school had just gotten out" and "the street was crowded with families and children."

Video shot by a witness at the scene shows a man in a white tank top lying on the street with his hands cuffed behind his back. Multiple members of law enforcement sporting badges are visible in the video, including one dressed in a neon safety vest who held a large firearm pointed toward the sky as he told bystanders to "back up."

In a previous statement on X, Mamdani said initial reports indicated agents fired "multiple rounds."

Photos from The Associated Press taken at the scene show a crowd gathered near a silver SUV flanked by yellow police tape. Protesters held signs decrying ICE.

The rear window of the SUV had been "completely shot out," witness Cynthia Michel told reporters at the scene. She heard several shots from her nearby apartment.

"He was screaming that they’re going to kill him, that he’s going to die, he doesn’t want to die," Michel said of the man who was shot. " ... The 5-year-old boy was screaming for his father, screaming ‘why are you guys killing my father? Why are you guys killing my father?’ "

Erika Gonzalez, 55, was blocked with her 16-year-old daughter from getting home by police barricades.

"Whatever the reason is, the fact somebody got shot in this area ... It's scary," Gonzalez told Newsday. "We walk by every day."

Newsday's Matthew Chayes contributed to this story.