Videos Show the Chaotic Seconds Before an ICE Agent Shot a Man in the Bronx
Surveillance cameras caught two plainclothes agents surrounding Oscar Belgal's car before gunfire rang out off camera. The recordings do not show the shots, and the two official accounts of what happened next still clash.
Key points
- **Updated 12:30 UTC: Developing story.**
- NEW YORK: Newly released surveillance videos show the few chaotic seconds that ended with a federal immigration agent shooting a 28-year-old man in the neck on a Bronx street.
- The videos, obtained Friday by the New York Post from city surveillance cameras, capture the start of the encounter Thursday around 4 p.m. on 225th Street in the Marble Hill neighborhood.
**Updated 12:30 UTC: Developing story.**
NEW YORK: Newly released surveillance videos show the few chaotic seconds that ended with a federal immigration agent shooting a 28-year-old man in the neck on a Bronx street. The recordings stop short of answering the central question: whether the gunfire was justified.
The videos, obtained Friday by the New York Post from city surveillance cameras, capture the start of the encounter Thursday around 4 p.m. on 225th Street in the Marble Hill neighborhood. Oscar Belgal sits in the driver's seat of a gray Honda CR-V, easing into a parking space. Two plainclothes federal officers run up with their guns drawn. One smashes the barrel of his weapon against the driver's side window. Belgal pulls away, and the car moves out of camera view.
About half a block down the street, outside the C&G Gourmet Deli on Marble Hill Avenue, shots ring out beyond the cameras' view. Bystanders drop to the ground.
At least one immigration officer fired seven rounds, striking Belgal below his left ear, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. A five-year-old boy, believed to be Belgal's son, sat in the back seat. He was not hurt.
Federal officials and city officials describe the missing middle of the encounter in sharply different ways. Marcos Charles, head of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents boxed Belgal's car in with their vehicles and ordered him out. He said Belgal refused, accelerated into two government vehicles, and drove toward other officers. "Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons," Charles said at a Friday news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
The claimed collision is not visible in the released footage. The cameras show the approach and the car pulling away, not the impact federal officials describe. The cameras also did not capture the shots being fired, and the Associated Press reported that the available recordings had not conclusively established whether the use of force was justified.
Friday morning, the NYPD separately released body camera footage from the first city officers to reach the scene. It shows Belgal handcuffed on the pavement, a man in a yellow construction-style vest carrying a long gun standing nearby, and officers lifting Belgal into their SUV and rushing him to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.
Belgal is expected to recover, authorities said. Late Thursday night, federal agents moved him from the hospital into custody; he is now held at a detention facility outside New York state, Charles said. A federal judge has temporarily barred the government from deporting him while legal proceedings continue. His lawyers say a bullet fragment remains lodged in his body.
Federal officials describe Belgal as a Dominican national in the country illegally, with a grand larceny conviction and alleged ties to the Trinitarios gang. He pleaded not guilty to a pending drug charge last year, court records show.
The shooting has drawn protests and fierce criticism. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it unconscionable and said he pressed President Donald Trump to halt immigration enforcement in the city. Governor Kathy Hochul made the same appeal. The Bronx district attorney's office, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are each examining the shooting.
The Department of Homeland Security says the agents' own body camera footage may be released. No date has been set.
Timeline
- Oct 8, 2026ICE agents shoot Oscar Belgal, 28, in the neck in Marble Hill around 4 p.m.; his 5-year-old son is in the car, unhurt. Hundreds protest outside the hospital that night.
- Oct 9, 2026NYPD releases body camera footage of the chaotic aftermath; federal officials defend the shooting at a Washington news conference; a federal judge temporarily bars Belgal's deportation.
- Oct 10, 2026Surveillance videos surface showing the chaotic seconds before the shots; the recordings do not settle whether the use of force was justified.
Sources
- Associated Press, via Reflector: ICE officers shot a man in New York because they believed they were in danger
- New York Post: Video shows suspect trying to flee as ICE agents surround car before NYC shooting
- Associated Press, via KCAU: AP - ICE officers shot New York man because they believed they were in danger
- NPR, via WAMC: ICE shooting in NYC fuels tension between New York officials and Trump administration
- CNN: ICE agents shot at man in car with his 5-year-old son