Wired Names ICE Agent Photographed With Rifle After Marble Hill Shooting; DHS Cites Gang Ties and Sanctuary Policy

Since an ICE agent shot Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill on Oct. 8, the questions have shifted from what happened on the street to who was there and what their records show.

Wired identified one of the plainclothes agents as Brendan Cuni. Photographs from the aftermath show a man in a yellow construction vest carrying an AR-15-style rifle, according to Wired's reporting. Nothing in that reporting says Cuni was the agent who fired.

No official has said who discharged a weapon. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said evidence at the scene showed "at least one agent discharged the seven rounds, striking the driver in the neck below his left ear."

What Wired reports about the agent

Wired reports that Cuni is named in multiple lawsuits alleging violent arrests. One was filed by a Bronx man who says Cuni tripped him hard enough to crack a tooth, then used a Taser on him six times while he was handcuffed on the ground. Another involves a November arrest in Queens in which agents reportedly tackled and shocked a man.

Wired also reports that Cuni was deployed to Minneapolis in December as part of Operation Metro Surge. During that stint, prosecutors charged a man with assaulting Cuni. A judge found the evidence "weak," and no other agents corroborated Cuni's account, Wired reports. In at least three separate cases, judges have flagged problems with his statements or arrest paperwork, according to the same reporting.

Al Jazeera separately reports that an ICE supervisor seen holding a rifle after the Oct. 8 shooting was also involved in a December arrest in Minneapolis, where agents knelt on and dragged a pregnant woman through the street. Activists allege Cuni was among the officers who forced a pregnant woman to the ground. Wired could not confirm that.

DHS has not publicly responded to the specific allegations about Cuni's record. These are allegations in lawsuits and court findings in individual cases, not a finding about what happened in Marble Hill.

The man who was shot

DHS describes Belgal, 28, as a Dominican national in the country illegally. It cites a grand larceny conviction and prior arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession and weapons possession. It also alleges ties to the Trinitarios gang, which DHS has linked to the 2025 killing of a Border Patrol officer.

Tisch said Belgal has two prior arrests in New York City. He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and was sentenced to probation. A separate 2025 charge of criminal sale of a controlled substance is still pending. The gang allegation comes from DHS and no charge in this case has been announced.

A 5-year-old boy, believed to be Belgal's son, was in the back seat. Tisch said NYPD officers later found him safe with a family member. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the child was physically unharmed. A witness, school therapist Iris Rosa, said she saw an agent holding a small child as Belgal lay bleeding.

Competing accounts of responsibility

DHS says its officers were carrying out a targeted arrest and were forced into the street by city policy. "When dangerous illegal aliens are released back onto the streets by radical sanctuary politicians, our officers are forced to make arrests at large in the community in unpredictable and dangerous environments," the agency said. DHS says the NYPD arrested Belgal on Dec. 7, 2023 and released him days later. It has not said what prompted the shooting or how many shots were fired.

Mamdani says the agents opened fire on a car with a child inside. He called the shooting "unconscionable" and renewed his call to abolish ICE and end enforcement operations in the city. He said he spent about two hours on the phone with President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin trying to get Belgal released. That effort failed, he said, and ICE agents "whisked him away" from the hospital.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat said federal agents blocked him from visiting Belgal at the hospital. Sen. Chuck Schumer called the shooting "deeply disturbing," demanded release of all body-worn camera footage and accused ICE of excessive force. Gov. Kathy Hochul said "New Yorkers deserve to know exactly what happened and why."

Street fallout

Protests formed within hours of the shooting. Fox News footage showed demonstrators pushing against barricades, blocking federal vehicles and smashing car windows, with multiple arrests. The NYPD said its officers were not part of the federal operation and were not on scene when the shots were fired.

The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating, according to DHS. A federal judge has separately barred Belgal's deportation while his habeas petition is pending.

Unanswered: which agent fired, what Belgal did in the moments before, and whether any body-camera footage exists. Schumer has demanded it be released. DHS has not committed to releasing it.

No charges against any agent have been announced.