Lawyers for New York man shot by ICE say officer fired into car without
warning
[October 15, 2026]
By PHILIP MARCELO
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for a man wounded by an immigration officer
while driving with his young son in New York said in a court filing
Wednesday that the agent who shot him never identified himself before he
ran up to the car, smashed one of its windows, then fired several shots
into the vehicle.
The account by lawyers for Oscar Belgal contrasted sharply with the
version of events outlined by Department of Homeland Security officials.
They have said officers opened fire only after Belgal smashed his car
into two government vehicles and “accelerated toward other officers.”
The Legal Aid Society, in a petition filed in Brooklyn federal court
seeking Belgal's release, said he had picked up his son from school on
Oct. 8 and was stopped in front of a fire hydrant, looking for a parking
spot, when “an anonymous, masked man” stormed up to the vehicle with his
gun drawn, followed by other masked men with guns.
“The men did not identify themselves, show any documents or otherwise
communicate with Oscar in any substantive way," Belgal's lawyers wrote.
"Instead, without identifying himself, the first man struck and
shattered Oscar’s window and began firing a pistol into Oscar’s car
while his son cowered in the back seat. One of those bullets struck
Oscar in the neck and he immediately began to bleed.”
New York City police security camera footage released by the department
last week shows some of the encounter but doesn't conclusively resolve
the dispute about how the shooting happened.
The video shows a man wearing a sweatshirt and a red hat running up to
the car with his gun pointed at Belgal, then immediately using the
barrel of his gun to bash the driver’s side window. The window shatters
on the second blow.
A second officer comes into view alongside the car and draws his gun.
Belgal then pulls into the street, away from the two officers. The car
pulls out of view of the camera, with the officer in the red hat in
pursuit.
Whatever happened next didn't appear on the NYPD's security cameras, but
the chase ended just a moment later, with Belgal's damaged car resting
against a concrete barrier with bullet holes in its windshield and a
rear window.
Video from bystanders and NYPD body camera footage show that ICE
officers handcuffed Belgal and tended to a gunshot wound to his neck as
he sat on the pavement outside the car. NYPD officers took Belgal to a
nearby hospital.
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Law enforcement work the scene of a shooting Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026,
in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
DHS didn't comment Wednesday on the claims by Belgal's lawyers,
saying the incident remains under investigation. But DHS officials
have maintained that ICE officers fired their weapons because they
believed their lives were in danger.
Belgal’s lawyers said he didn’t learn the men were ICE officers
until he awoke later in the hospital. They say he remains detained
at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has yet
to receive surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his neck. They
also say he has lost sensation on the left side of his face and is
suffering from impaired hearing.
“Mr. Belgal’s detention was unlawful from its inception. ICE
officers shot him in the neck in front of his five year-old son,
failed to provide him with immediate medical assistance, and now
continue to hold him in a facility notorious for medical neglect,”
said Perry McAninch and Elyssa Williams, the lawyers representing
Belgal.
DHS referred questions about Belgal's medical treatment to the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, which manages the jail. That agency also
declined comment, citing “privacy, safety, and security reasons,”
but said, in general, that it “does not deny any inmate necessary
medical treatment or basic necessities.”
At a news conference last week, Marcos Charles, the head of ICE's
enforcement and removal operations, said Belgal refused orders to
exit his vehicle and then accelerated and smashed into two
government vehicles as ICE officers tried to block him from driving
away.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has maintained officers
didn’t know a child was in the car and blamed Belgal for putting his
son's life in danger.
___
Associated Press reporter Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas,
contributed to this story.
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