ICE Agent Shoots Man in Marble Hill With 5-Year-Old in the Back Seat

An ICE officer shot a man in the Marble Hill neighborhood of New York City on Thursday, Oct. 8, while a 5-year-old child sat in the back of the vehicle. The child was not hurt.

The shooting happened at about 4 p.m. near West 225th Street and Marble Hill Avenue, outside 2 Marble Hill Avenue. The neighborhood is described by the New York Times as either part of Upper Manhattan or the southern edge of the Bronx.

What DHS says

The Department of Homeland Security said ICE officers were running a targeted operation to arrest a 28-year-old man from the Dominican Republic who is in the country illegally. DHS said that during the operation "an ICE officer discharged his weapon" and the man was wounded.

DHS says the man has ties to the Trinitarios gang, a prior conviction for grand larceny, and prior arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession and weapons possession. It says the NYPD arrested him on Dec. 7, 2023, and released him a few days later.

DHS blamed "sanctuary" policies for that release. In its statement, the department said that when dangerous people are released, officers are "forced to make arrests at large in the community in unpredictable and dangerous environments."

DHS has not named the man or released evidence of his record. It has also not explained what happened in the moments before the shooting.

What is known about the shooting

The man was conscious and taken to a hospital. A law enforcement source told CNN the injury was a graze wound to the neck, and police drove him to the hospital in a patrol car rather than wait for an ambulance. Law enforcement sources say it is not life-threatening.

The NYPD said it was not involved in the operation and was not on scene when the shooting happened. Witnesses told police they heard five to six gunshots. Video from the scene shows a vehicle with bullet holes in the windshield and an agent in a yellow construction vest carrying a semi-automatic rifle.

Two agents were also hurt, according to a law enforcement source who spoke to CNN. A federal official said one of them may have been injured in a car accident, and it is unclear whether that was part of the arrest attempt or the response.

One detail is in dispute. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that preliminary information indicated the man who was shot was not the target of the arrest. DHS's statement ties the wounded man to the gang and criminal history it described for the operation's target. DHS has not addressed the discrepancy.

DHS also did not answer CNN's question about whether the officers wore body cameras. It referred the network back to its original statement, which does not mention them.

The political fallout

Mamdani called the shooting "unconscionable and incredibly serious." He said early reports indicated "multiple rounds" were fired with the child in the car. He said he had called President Trump and would "demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city." He ended his statement with "Abolish ICE."

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she had been briefed and expects "a full and transparent accounting." She said New Yorkers "deserve to know exactly what happened and why." City Council Speaker Julie Menin said she was "deeply concerned" and cited the fear ICE activity has caused immigrant New Yorkers. Reps. Hakeem Jeffries and Adriano Espaillat also called for full investigations, according to the Daily Wire.

Dozens of protesters gathered at the scene and outside the hospital where the man was taken, according to the Guardian.

The shooting came the same week ICE leadership verbally told agents to raise arrests by 1,000 a day, according to two sources who spoke to CNN. CNN called Thursday's shooting the first involving ICE agents in New York City since Trump's immigration crackdown began.

The two sides are talking past each other. DHS describes a man with a criminal record who was released by local authorities and had to be arrested on the street. Mamdani and other city officials describe federal agents firing into a car with a child inside and no public explanation.

Both things can be checked. The man's record is a matter of court and arrest files that DHS has not made public. Whether the shooting was justified depends on what happened in the seconds before it, which only investigators, video and the agents involved can answer.

The FBI's Evidence Response Team was sent to the scene to assist DHS investigators, and DHS said the incident "remains under investigation." Still unanswered: what the officer saw before firing, whether the wounded man was the person agents were sent to arrest, and whether any body-camera footage exists. Mamdani said he would raise his demand with Trump when they speak. CNN reported that, as of Thursday evening, the two had not yet spoken.