Protests against the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spread across New York since Thursday (8), when federal agents shot a man inside his own car, with a 5-year-old child in the back seat, in the Marble Hill neighborhood at the northern end of Manhattan.
The incident occurred around 4 p.m. local time. According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), at least one officer fired seven times and struck the driver in the neck. Mayor Zohran Mamdani identified the man as Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old Dominican. The child, who would be his son, was not injured, according to two police sources interviewed by NBC News.
The NYPD said its officers did not witness the shootings nor participate in the action, and that the injured person was conscious when taken to the hospital. The FBI sent to the scene a team of evidence collection to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The DHS, to which ICE is subordinate, says that the agents were conducting a targeted operation to arrest a Dominican man with a prior criminal conviction. According to NBC News, the department also says that Belgal has possible gang ties and attempted to drive the vehicle toward the agents.
The CBC reports that the DHS attributes to Belgal a prior conviction for aggravated theft and other police records, a version disputed by his lawyer. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said he had been arrested twice in New York, in 2023 and 2025.
(Associated Press)
