An immigrant from the Dominican Republic was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Oct. 8 in Manhattan’s Marble Hill neighborhood.
The shooting happened at around 4 p.m. as ICE officers attempted to arrest Oscar Belgal for his criminal record of drug dealing and grand larceny, where he later pleaded guilty and received a five-year probation in 2023.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal was pulling into a parking space when an ICE officer approached in plain clothes with a firearm drawn, followed by another officer who was not in uniform.
As Belgal started to drive forward, one of the ICE officers fired seven rounds, hitting Belgal’s neck, just below his left ear.
Belgal’s car was found with damage to the front windshield and rear window from the gunshots, and an ICE vehicle was found with damage to the front and lower panels, Tisch added.
The incident caused city officials to express their concerns, including City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, who was born in the Dominican Republic and represents areas including Marble Hill.
“We are heartbroken and enraged,” De La Rosa said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the incident and demanded that federal officials provide answers about the shooting.
“There is no explanation for these tactics. There is no explanation for federal officers firing this many rounds into a car that has a 5-year-old in the car,” Mamdani said.
Arrests by ICE officers in New York State rose from 927 in May to 1,567 in July, according to the Deportation Data Project.
“The streets were filled of children coming out of school. People coming out of the bus. We were all turning the corner when shots rang out. We heard seven, eight shots really loud,” a witness told ABC7.
The Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security criticized the city’s sanctuary policies that restrict local agencies and policies from cooperating with ICE officers.
The DHS said in a statement that ICE officers were conducting an enforcement operation to arrest “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,” and that Belgal “has associations with the Trinitarios gang, the same gang that brutally killed a CBP officer last year.”
Anti-ICE protesters gathered outside of the hospital where Belgal was being treated. Police set up barricades to allow ambulances and vehicles to pass, while some protesters pushed the barriers and threw bottles at the officers.
Both Mamdani and Hochul attempted to negotiate with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to release Belgal. Mamdani said federal authorities removed Belgal from the hospital and took him away the same night of the shooting.
