After a Marble Hill Shooting, a Fight Over Facts Between New York and Washington
A federal immigration officer shot a father in front of his young son. Two governments are now giving sharply different accounts of who he is and what happened.
A confrontation on a quiet Upper Manhattan street on Thursday afternoon has become the latest flashpoint between New York’s elected leaders and the Trump administration over immigration enforcement. An ICE officer shot a 28-year-old man in his car, with the man’s 5-year-old son in the back seat. By Friday, the city and the federal government were disputing the circumstances of the shooting and the man’s background.
What happened on Thursday
The shooting took place around 4 p.m. near West 225th Street and Marble Hill Avenue. Marble Hill is an unusual place to have such a dispute. It is politically part of Manhattan but sits geographically in the Bronx. That is why some outlets place the shooting in one borough and some in the other. (CBS News) (CBS News)
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch gave the most detailed public account of the incident so far. According to her, Oscar Belgal was pulling into a parking space when a plainclothes federal officer approached with a gun drawn, followed by a second officer, also out of uniform. Belgal began to move the car forward, and at least one officer fired seven rounds, hitting him below the left ear. The child was unharmed. Tisch said the boy was left with a relative. (ICE shooting of New York man in car with five-year-old sparks protests +2)
According to the commissioner, no city officers took part in the immigration action, and none were at the scene when the shots were fired. The NYPD got involved only afterward. Officers in the area heard shots, ran to the scene, and found Belgal handcuffed and seated on the ground. They put him in a police vehicle and took him to the hospital. A city surveillance camera caught part of the encounter, but not the shots themselves. The vehicle moves forward and leaves the frame, Tisch said. (NYPD rushed man shot by ICE to hospital in police SUV, bodycam footage shows – Gothamist +3)
Washington’s version
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has defended the operation. He said the agents feared for their lives, that they identified themselves and gave lawful orders as they approached, and that they did not know a child was in the car. He also said Belgal accelerated and hit two other vehicles. (abc7ny)
DHS has called the effort a targeted enforcement action. ICE said it was aimed at arresting a man in the country illegally and linked to the Trinitarios gang. Mullin said Belgal is from the Dominican Republic and has prior arrests. One account of the DHS explanation says agents were investigating Belgal’s ties to migrants allegedly involved in the July 2025 shooting of an off-duty customs officer. That account comes from a secondary outlet, and I could not confirm it against DHS’s own materials. (NYC ICE shooting: 4 protesters arrested after Oscar Belgal shot in Marble Hill, Manhattan – ABC7 New York +2)
Mullin also said an earlier attempt to detain Belgal failed. Agents tried in September, he said, but Belgal fled, and they chose not to chase him until Thursday. (abc7ny)
What the city says about Belgal’s record
The criminal history is where the two sides’ descriptions diverge. DHS has portrayed Belgal as a dangerous gang-linked offender. The NYPD’s account is more modest. Tisch said Belgal has one prior New York City conviction, for fourth-degree grand larceny. According to Tisch, that was a reduced plea after a 2023 robbery arrest. She also said he has pleaded not guilty in a pending 2025 drug case. (gothamist) (rollingout)
A pending case is not a conviction, and DHS’s allegation of gang membership is a claim that I could not independently verify. The public record I found does not show whether he has been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime connected to the gang or the earlier shooting the agency cites.
Why the transfer out of New York caused a stir
The aftermath became a political problem for DHS almost immediately. Rep. Adriano Espaillat said he met the boy and his mother at the hospital, but ICE agents guarding Belgal’s room would not let him in. Around 11 p.m., ICE agents drove Belgal away in unmarked vehicles. Mullin later said he had been moved to a “more secured facility” outside New York. (CBS News) (abc7ny)
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he spent two hours on the phone with President Trump and Mullin on Thursday night trying to secure Belgal’s release, without success. When the question of slowing enforcement came up, Mullin made clear the agency’s work in the state would carry on as planned. (CBS News) (CNBC)
Calls for footage and an independent inquiry
Hochul said she also spoke with Trump and Mullin. In a post on X, she said she expressed outrage for New Yorkers, urged them to halt ICE operations in the state, and asked that any body camera footage be made public. City council members and other local leaders echoed that, and also asked the state attorney general’s office to open an independent investigation. (abc17news) (abc17news)
Who has authority over the inquiry is part of the dispute. Tisch said federal agents had exercised their authority to take over the investigation. FBI agents were seen working at the scene. A New York attorney general investigation could run into the usual limits on state authority over federal officers, so the practical outcome is uncertain. (abc17news) (Al Jazeera)
Mullin has said the officers wore body cameras and that the cameras were recording. That is why the footage question matters. The NYPD has already released its own body camera video, which shows officers rushing Belgal to the hospital and shows him bleeding from the neck while surrounded by ICE officers. That footage shows the aftermath only, not the shooting. DHS has not said whether or when it will release its recordings. (gothamist)
Protests and arrests
The reaction spilled into the street. Four people were arrested outside the hospital for obstructing governmental administration while protesting. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams criticized federal officials and objected to how the incident was being characterized. (abc7ny) (abc7ny)
The larger context
The shooting comes as DHS faces scrutiny over force in several cities. Federal agents took over the investigation, as they did after a September 20 ICE shooting in Austin, Texas, that left a Venezuelan man wounded. That fits a pattern that has put immigration enforcement under political pressure ahead of the midterm elections, though how much effect it will have on voters is speculation for now. (abc17news)
