MARBLE HILL, Manhattan (WABC) — A targeted ICE operation in Manhattan’s Marble Hill neighborhood ended in gunfire Thursday afternoon, leaving a wounded suspect and a 5-year-old boy unharmed, authorities said, and drawing widespread condemnation from local lawmakers and immigration activists.
The shooting happened around 4 p.m. near Marble Hill Avenue and West 225th Street. City officials said an ICE agent fired several rounds through the front windshield of the suspect’s SUV. Authorities said a man was in the vehicle and a child was sitting in the back seat.
At the time of the shooting, ICE agents were attempting to arrest a person under investigation for ties to migrants involved in the shooting of an off-duty customs officer at Fort Washington Park in July 2025.
Two Dominican nationals involved in the case were convicted in federal court earlier this week, while state charges against them remain pending.
The Department of Homeland Security later said in a statement that ICE agents were conducting “a targeted enforcement operation…to arrest an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic with a prior criminal conviction for robbery and multiple prior arrests for assault, theft, drug possession and weapons possession.” He has associations with the Trinitarios gang, the same gang that brutally killed a CBP officer last year.
DHS confirmed that an ICE officer fired his weapon, injuring the man.
Witnesses describe chaotic scene
Witnesses described panic and chaos after gunfire erupted and ICE agents flooded the area.
“Like pow pow pow pow pow,” witness Jeffrey said.
“It was really fast. It was boom boom boom. It was really fast,” witness Marcelo Desa said.
Witnesses said the streets were crowded at the time, with children leaving school and commuters passing through the neighborhood.
“The streets were full of children coming out of school. People were getting out of the bus. We were all turning the corner when shots rang out. We heard seven, eight very loud gunshots,” a witness said.
Video from the scene captured the sound of sirens and showed a man lying in the street after being pulled from a vehicle. Witnesses reported seeing what they thought was a semi-automatic assault rifle.
“I had an AR bro look at this. It’s ICE. It’s ICE bro,” a bystander said in a video recorded at the scene.
“It was a big assault rifle. It was pow pow pow pow,” another witness said.
A witness said: “He shot into the back of a vehicle without knowing there was a 5-year-old child inside the car. »
Witnesses said the child was frozen in terror.
Witnesses said the heavy law enforcement presence remained in the area well after the shooting. About 90 minutes after the shooting, dozens of ICE agents were seen leaving the scene.
“There were hundreds of children here. We have a huge school here that accommodates thousands of children,” said one witness.
The Department of Homeland Security said ICE agents immediately provided assistance to the suspect. However, videos and witnesses indicated that NYPD officers rendered aid and transported the man to a hospital, where he was conscious and receiving medical treatment.
At a news conference hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition, Congressman Adriano Espaillat said he spoke with the family of the man who was shot and they confirmed the child was in the family’s custody. The congressman said ICE agents did not allow him to see the man at the hospital when he went to see him.
ICE recently set a daily goal of 3,000 arrests nationwide, up from 2,000, sources told ABC News, a report denied by the Department of Homeland Security.
Shooting sparks protests, condemnation from lawmakers and anti-immigration activists
Hundreds of protesters gathered Thursday evening at an Inwood hospital where the man shot was being treated for his injuries.
The shooting also sparked a swift response from local politicians, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The mayor said he called the president and will demand an end to ICE’s actions when they speak, saying, “I will not stand idly by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.” Our thoughts are with the injured New Yorker and his family this evening.
Governor Hochul is calling for “full transparency” from federal authorities and also said she spoke with DHS President and Secretary Mullin, urging them to “end ICE enforcement operations in New York” and release body camera footage of the shooting to the public.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who attended the news conference hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition, released a statement saying he heard the anger and fear of the Marble Hill community, and that he also heard “their determination, their commitment to stand with our immigrant neighbors under attack.”
He added: “They belong in our city – not ICE.”
The shooting also sparked reactions from the city’s anti-immigration activists.
“ICE’s violent tactics pose a clear danger to all New Yorkers, as today’s shooting in a residential neighborhood demonstrates. This incident is another reminder of the unchecked and rampant violence that ICE is spreading in our communities,” said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition.
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