ICE Officer Shoots Dominican Man in the Neck During Arrest in New York City
An ICE officer shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in the neck in Manhattan's Marble Hill neighbourhood while a 5-year-old child was in the car. Mayor Mamdani condemned the shooting as an outrage.
ICE Agent Opens Fire on Dominican Man in Manhattan, Child in Vehicle Unharmed
A federal immigration officer shot a Dominican man in the neck during an arrest operation in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, with a 5-year-old boy present in the vehicle at the time, according to pbs.org.
The 28-year-old man, identified by city police as Oscar Belgal, survived the shooting and was taken to hospital for treatment. The child was unharmed and placed with a relative.
What officers said happened
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal was pulling into a parking space when a plainclothes federal officer approached with gun drawn, followed by a second officer also not in uniform. Belgal began to move the car forward, and at least one of the officers fired seven rounds, striking him below his left ear, Tisch said at a news conference near the scene Thursday night.
The Department of Homeland Security did not describe the precise sequence of events, stating only that "during the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon" and that the man was injured.
DHS said it had been seeking to arrest a "criminal illegal alien" with a grand larceny conviction and a history of other arrests. Belgal was arrested on a robbery charge in 2023, later pleaded guilty to grand larceny and was sentenced to probation, Tisch said. He was subsequently arrested on a drug-sale charge that has not yet been resolved; electronic court records show he has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Mayor condemns the operation
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, called the shooting an outrage. "There is no justification for what we have seen today," he said. Mamdani stated that the federal officers who surrounded the vehicle were wearing construction vests and masks, making it difficult for bystanders to identify them as immigration officers.
Mamdani said he spent two hours Thursday night pressing Republican President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to release the wounded man and to halt immigration enforcement operations in the city — without success. Late Thursday night, federal authorities removed Belgal from the hospital and took him away. Governor Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, said she delivered a similar message to Trump and Mullin by phone.
Scene of the shooting
The gunfire erupted around 4 p.m. in Marble Hill, a small section of Manhattan that is physically attached to the Bronx. Tisch said an NYPD security camera recorded some of the events leading up to the shooting, but not the shooting itself.
Pedro Almaraz, an employee at a nearby restaurant, said he heard several gunshots and saw a man on the ground surrounded by officers wearing face masks and vests bearing Department of Homeland Security branding. Witnesses, he said, were screaming.
Bystander videos and photos posted on social media showed Belgal sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back in the immediate aftermath. A separate video showed New York City police officers lifting Belgal and carrying him into a police vehicle. A damaged car was left blocking the roadway, with small holes in two of its windows. Tisch said the shooting left a bullet entry point on the front windshield and an exit point in one of the rear windows.
Political reaction and protests
At a heated press conference at the scene Thursday night, several local politicians condemned the shooting. City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, a Democrat who emigrated from the Dominican Republic and now represents areas including Marble Hill, said, "We are heartbroken and enraged." Other elected officials directed criticism at ICE and at President Trump.
Demonstrators at the scene chanted "ICE off our streets now!" before marching to the hospital where Belgal was being treated. A large crowd blocked an intersection at the hospital entrance. As police set up barricades to allow ambulances and other vehicles to pass, some protesters shoved at the barriers and threw water bottles at officers. Further clashes followed and police made a number of arrests.
DHS defends its officers
DHS, in a statement, said its officers "are forced to make arrests at large in the community in unpredictable and dangerous environments" when "dangerous illegal aliens" are released. The agency blamed what it called "reckless sanctuary policies" in Democrat-led jurisdictions — a term generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Broader pattern
ICE agents have fired their weapons during more than a dozen vehicle stops since last year, killing at least four people and wounding others, according to pbs.org. In late September, ICE ordered its officers not to engage in high-speed car chases and to conduct vehicle stops only under specific conditions.
Source: Google News DM — Crime