ICE officers shoot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in neck during Marble Hill arrest

Officials condemn ICE, call for investigation, demand end to violent enforcement

The shooting occurred around 4 p.m. on Thursday, when children from local schools were streaming home, according to neighbors interviewed by The Guardian. Bystander footage of the aftermath shows a man in a high-visibility construction-style vest, possibly wearing a badge on a lanyard, carrying an assault-style rifle. On the video, bystanders can be heard asking each other, “Is it ICE or not?” The small three-way intersection where Belgal was shot is home to about five apartment complexes and some businesses; on Friday afternoon, New York police had removed street barricades but yellow crime scene tape remained visible around the scene, The Guardian reported.

Orlando Perez, who had parked his car on the corner of 225th Street and Marble Hill Avenue on Thursday night, told The Guardian he initially thought he would be shot himself. “I thought I was going to get shot,” Perez said on Friday, describing streets that were “noticeably quieter than normal” despite protests the previous night under “golden early October sunshine under blue skies.” He said he witnessed ICE arresting Belgal after Belgal had been shot in the neck, apparently with an assault-style rifle. He said he did not see the agents wearing uniforms or displaying identification badges or gear identifying them as ICE. The car Belgal had driven appeared to have bullet holes in it, according to Perez.

Federal and city law enforcement have listed prior convictions for Belgal and said he was on probation for felony offenses, with the Trump administration accusing Belgal of having gang affiliations, The Guardian reported.

Zachary Miller, who said he heard six gunshots from his apartment, told The Guardian he had lived in the Marble Hill neighborhood — which is technically in the Bronx, but considered part of Manhattan — for 20 years and had never witnessed such a violent encounter with law enforcement. “I’m a little upset,” Miller said. “Why do this to this neighborhood?” Miller said he knew Belgal from around the neighborhood and described him as “a nice kid,” telling the paper, “I don’t see him doing something like this,” referring to the accusations of gang ties and drugs and weapons crimes.

Carlos Martinez, 18, told The Guardian he heard five or six gunshots while eating inside P & P Gourmet Deli, which sits on the corner directly across from where the shooting and arrest took place. “I thought the shots came from inside the store, so I was nervous,” Martinez said. Coming from a Dominican family, like Belgal, and growing up in the Bronx, Martinez said he no longer feels safe at home, despite he and all his family members being U.S. citizens. “Over here we are all community, but personally I am uncomfortable,” he said. “They want to target the most innocent people.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at a press conference in Washington on Friday morning that federal officers did not know there was a child in the target’s car. Perez countered that the car had only light tints on the windows and that ICE “had to see that the kid was inside.”

Leading New York City and state politicians and officials have condemned ICE’s action and called for an investigation and demanded violent federal immigration enforcement cease, The Guardian reported. Mamdani “strongly condemned” ICE at a hastily arranged press conference Thursday night — with protesters audible chanting in the background — and called for the agency to be abolished.

Longtime Marble Hill resident Carlos Rodriguez told the paper he felt “soiled” by ICE’s presence in his neighborhood. “I need to take a shower and clean off the filth that comes into my ambit of being,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said he wished that New York’s mayor, Mamdani, would be more outspoken about ICE tensions in New York. “From my point of view, he can come out stronger and more often about this,” Rodriguez said, adding that he wanted lawmakers to be more proactive against enforcement agents, especially where they are going to residents’ homes and demanding access to make checks or arrests.

Several local residents told The Guardian they had seen ICE officers and vehicles “camped out” in a parking lot serving a nearby Target store. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez late Thursday criticized Target for accommodating ICE, according to The Guardian. Rodriguez said he suspected the agents had been looking for Belgal.

A federal habeas corpus petition seeking Belgal’s release was expected to be heard Friday afternoon in New York federal court, after public defender lawyers representing him were unable to trace his whereabouts, Courthouse News reported.