A 28-year-old man was shot in the neck by an ICE agent in New York City Thursday afternoon while a 5-year-old boy sat inside his vehicle. According to CBS New York, the October 8 shooting happened around 4 p.m. in Marble Hill, as families and children were returning home. During a news conference, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the man as Oscar Belgal. Surveillance footage showed plainclothes federal agents approaching his SUV, including one with his gun drawn. The vehicle then moved forward and disappeared from camera view. At least one ICE agent subsequently fired seven rounds, striking Belgal below his left ear.
Video
Police transported Belgal to a hospital in stable condition. The child, believed to be his son, was physically unharmed and later placed in a family member’s care.
Federal officials offered a different account of what led to the ICE shooting. According to Reuters, senior ICE official Marcos Charles said agents opened fire after “fearing” for their safety and that of the public.
“Belgal refused lawful orders to exit his vehicle. He then accelerated the vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles, and then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate going towards other officers.”
DHS described Belgal as a “criminal illegal alien” from the Dominican Republic “with a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, and multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession.” Charles also alleged ties to the Trinitarios gang and “indirect or direct knowledge” of a July 2025 shooting involving an off-duty customs officer.
Tisch confirmed that Belgal had a grand larceny conviction resulting from a 2023 arrest and a pending drug case. She emphasized that NYPD “had no involvement in the federal operation prior to the shooting, and no members of the NYPD were on scene at the time of the shooting.”
The ICE shooting drew immediate condemnation from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who demanded that the agency be abolished. Addressing residents “not just as the mayor of our city, but as someone who is proud to be an immigrant in our city,” Mamdani questioned the safety of New Yorkers under federal immigration enforcement.
“Tonight, a 5-year-old child sits traumatized and terrified,” Mamdani said. “Tonight, millions of our neighbors are wondering whether they will be safe on our streets, in our schools, at their work sites…Tonight, New Yorkers across the five boroughs are asking whether their civil liberties will be respected, whether law and order is supposed to look like a man carrying a long gun wearing a mask.”
“We know that ICE is rotten to its core,” he added.
Mamdani also revealed that he contacted Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin seeking Belgal’s release but was “unsuccessful.” He said, “ICE put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away.”
By Friday, Mullin fired back, accusing Mamdani of making statements that were “dangerous and incite hostility.”
“He said that ICE is rotten to the core. Really?” Mullin asked. “Men and women at ICE each are enforcing the laws that he refuses to enforce.”
Mullin maintained that agents did not know a child was inside Belgal’s vehicle and argued that public “outrage” should be directed toward Belgal.
During the same press conference, Mullin criticized a reporter who questioned him about aircraft purchased under former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
“All you’re doing here is you’re trying to take this someplace else because you know that we arrested the worst of the worst last night,” Mullin said. “And you’re trying to bring up something else that’s controversial. This is what I hate about fake news.”
Mullin continued defending federal immigration enforcement.
“What is so bad about Department of Homeland Security, because it was stood up to protect us from an event that happened 25 years ago?” he asked.
“I’m so tired of it all the sudden being controversial because it’s a political taking point,” Mullin continued. “We’re keeping men and women in this country safe… I’ll never apologize about our men and women doing their job. I’m very proud of them.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul also condemned the shooting.
“By the Grace of God, that child appears to have escaped without physical injury,” Hochul said. “I expressed outrage on behalf of New Yorkers and urged them to halt ICE enforcement operations in New York.”
As federal authorities defend the agents’ actions, the ICE shooting remains under investigation. Reuters reported that body camera footage had not yet been publicly released, leaving critical questions about the confrontation and the decision to open fire unanswered.
