A 28-year-old Dominican man who was shot in the neck by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in New York City allegedly used his vehicle as a weapon before agents opened fire, government officials said.
Marcos Charles, a senior ICE official, said at a Friday news conference that agents confronted Oscar Belgal in the Bronx’s Marble Hill neighborhood when he accelerated his Honda, hitting two government vehicles.
Charles said Belgal then drove toward additional officers, prompting agents to treat the car as a threat. “He accelerated his vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles and then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate going towards other officers,” he said while defending the use of deadly force.
According to Charles, the officers believed they faced an immediate danger to their own safety and to members of the public, and responded by relying on their firearms training.
Belgal was inside the vehicle with his five-year-old son when the shooting occurred. He survived the gunshot wound to his neck, received treatment at a hospital and was later transferred to an ICE detention facility in another state, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
Authorities have not released video of the encounter, including footage from officers’ body cameras.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said Belgal had also fled from law enforcement in September.
Mullin said the government regarded Belgal’s son as a “collateral criminal” because officials allege Belgal was unlawfully in the United States while traveling with the child. The boy was not injured and has been placed with relatives.
A 28-year-old Dominican man shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in New York City on Thursday allegedly used his vehicle as a weapon before the shooting, according to government officials. Oscar Belgal is pictured seated on the ground afterward.
Belgal was traveling with his five-year-old son when the shooting took place. He survived a gunshot wound to the neck, was treated at a hospital and was later transferred to an ICE facility in another state, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The DHS has described Belgal as a “criminal illegal alien” and said he was being detained following a grand larceny conviction. He received a five-year probation sentence in April 2025, after what officials characterized as a record involving several earlier arrests.
Mullin said Belgal was wanted by authorities and understood that law enforcement would continue searching for him.
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“He fled once before in September. He knew he was wanted. He knows officers aren’t gonna give up on him,” Mullin said, calling Belgal “a threat to our community.”
Mullin also said ICE agents did not know a child was inside the car when they fired their weapons.
“As a father of six, I would never endanger my kids,” Mullin said. “I would die to protect my family. We weren’t aware that a child was in the car, I can tell you that.”
He argued that Belgal, unlike the officers, knew his son was in the vehicle and nevertheless drove at high speed, striking two cars and apparently heading toward officers.
“The public outcry should also be toward this criminal,” Mullin said. “The outrage should be with him endangering this five-year-old. The focus on what took place is absurd.”
US Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said at a Friday news conference that Oscar Belgal, who survived the shooting, was “a threat to our community” and had previously fled from law enforcement in September.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the incident as an “outrage,” saying Thursday evening that there was “no justification for what we have seen today.”
Mamdani said he had unsuccessfully appealed for Belgal’s release during phone calls with President Donald Trump and Secretary Mullin.
‘These actions are making the city less safe,’ Mamdani said. ‘We want ICE out of our city, ICE out of our schools, ICE out of our hospitals, ICE out of our streets, ICE away from our kids.’
Mamdani added that federal officers who surrounded the vehicle wore construction vests and masks, making it difficult to identify them as immigration officers.
Mullin hit back on Friday by criticizing New York’s ‘sanctuary’ policies, which restrict how much city agencies and police cooperate with immigration authorities, for allowing Belgal to be out on the streets instead of turning him over to federal agents.
This is a breaking news story with updates to follow.
