A United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent has shot a man during an immigration enforcement operation in the Bronx, New York City, with a five-year-old child reportedly inside the car when multiple shots were fired.
The incident, which occurred on Thursday, has drawn criticism from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul, who have demanded accountability and raised concerns about the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
According to the BBC, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, confirmed the shooting, stating that an officer had “discharged his weapon” during what it described as a targeted operation to arrest a man it identified as a criminal immigrant.
The department said the man survived the shooting and was taken to a local hospital for medical attention.
However, details about what prompted the officer to open fire and the events leading up to the shooting were not fully established in the initial accounts of the incident.
New York City Mayor Mamdani said preliminary reports indicated that ICE agents had surrounded the man and a five-year-old child inside a car before firing multiple shots.
The mayor said officials believed the child was not physically injured, describing the incident as an “unconscionable and incredibly serious situation.”
The reported presence of the child inside the vehicle has intensified concerns surrounding the operation, particularly the circumstances under which the shots were fired and the potential danger faced by the young child.
Mamdani said he would ask US President Donald Trump to end ICE enforcement operations in New York City, signalling his opposition to the federal agency’s continued immigration enforcement activities in the city.
In a statement posted on X on Thursday evening, the mayor said he would not stand by while ICE agents terrorised communities.
His comments came amid tensions over federal immigration enforcement and its impact on communities across New York City.
Governor Hochul also condemned the shooting after speaking with Trump, saying she had expressed outrage on behalf of New Yorkers.
The governor subsequently requested the release of any body camera footage recorded during the incident, arguing that the recordings could help establish what happened during the operation.
The demand for the footage comes as questions remain about the sequence of events before and during the shooting, including the actions of the ICE agents involved and the circumstances that led to the discharge of the officer’s weapon.
Body camera recordings, if available and released, could provide additional evidence to help clarify the encounter and establish a more detailed account of what transpired.
While DHS described the operation as a targeted attempt to arrest a man it identified as a criminal immigrant, the statements from Mamdani and Hochul focused on the shooting and the need to determine the circumstances surrounding it.
The incident has renewed attention on the conduct of federal immigration officers in New York City, particularly during enforcement operations in which other people, including children, may be present.
Mamdani’s call for Trump to end ICE operations in the city also places the shooting at the centre of a broader dispute over federal immigration enforcement and the position of New York’s political leadership.
As pressure mounts for further clarification, the circumstances that led to the shooting remain a central issue. Authorities have not, in the information cited in the initial report, provided a complete public account of why the officer fired or detailed the events immediately preceding the gunfire.
The requested body camera footage could become an important part of efforts to establish what happened, while the condition of the injured man and the reported safety of the child remain key details in the developing case.