Thursday afternoon, federal immigration agents shot a 28-year-old man during an arrest attempt in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx. Police identified the man as Oscar Belgal. He was sitting in an SUV with a 5-year-old boy in the back seat when at least one agent fired seven rounds, hitting Belgal in the neck below his left ear. The child was not hurt.
Bystander video from the scene shows the aftermath, with armed agents standing around the SUV while people on the sidewalk filmed.
By Thursday night, the story had moved to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where Belgal was being treated. About 300 protesters gathered outside, chanting for ICE to get out of the city. At one point the crowd and NYPD officers tussled over the barricades, and at least one protester was arrested, according to the New York Post. A Democratic congressional nominee, Darializa Avila Chevalier, was knocked to the ground in the chaos.
Meanwhile, Mayor Zohran Mamdani was on the phone. The mayor said he spent two hours on calls with President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin trying to negotiate Belgal’s release from federal custody. It did not work. Mamdani confirmed that ICE agents moved Belgal out of the hospital late Thursday night in an unmarked vehicle with blacked-out windows. At a late-night press conference, with protesters chanting behind him, Mamdani called ICE “rotten to its core” and said the agency must be abolished.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she also spoke with Trump and Mullin on Thursday night, urging them to halt ICE enforcement operations in New York and to release any body camera footage of the shooting.
What exactly led to the shooting is still unclear. The Department of Homeland Security said its officers were conducting a targeted operation against Belgal, whom the agency described as being in the country illegally with ties to the Trinitarios gang and a record of prior arrests. The NYPD says it had no involvement in the operation and was not on scene when the shots were fired.
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