.jpg)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he negotiated with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for two hours over the phone to release the man shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the city on Thursday.
“Those negotiations were unsuccessful. Just moments ago, ICE put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away,” Mamdani said during a press conference Thursday evening.
Mamdani and New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch gave details about the shooting, which occurred around 4 p.m. in the Marble Hill neighborhood, as protesters surrounded the streets. Mamdani said the timing meant “school had just gotten out” and that the “street was crowded with families and children” when ICE officers surrounded the non-fatal shooting victim, an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic.
“ICE agents surrounded the man’s vehicle before opening fire. They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces. There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents,” Mamdani said.
“When ICE agents opened fire, a 5-year-old child — a 5-year-old child — was in the back seat of the car. Thank God, that child is physically unharmed,” Mamdani continued.
Tisch identified the illegal immigrant shot by ICE officers as Oscar Begal, 28, who had two prior arrests in New York City, including a 2023 robbery arrest and one in 2025 for criminal sale of a controlled substance. In the 2023 arrest, Begal pled guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny.
The Department of Homeland Security also announced Thursday that Begal has ties to the Trinitarios gang, which the agency suspects was connected to the off-duty shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer in New York City in 2025. A federal judge had sentenced Dominican Republic nationals related to the incident on Monday.
According to Tisch, two plainclothes federal immigration officers approached Begal’s car on Thursday as he had his child in the back, while one of the officers had his gun drawn at the driver’s side window. Tisch said that based on evidence from the Marble Hill scene, NYPD officers gathered that at least one ICE officer fired seven rounds at Begal, striking him in the left side of his neck below his ear.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HOSPITALIZED AFTER ICE SHOOTING IN NEW YORK CITY, DHS SAYS
Tisch clarified that NYPD officers were not involved in the shooting or on the scene when it occurred, but were “responding to an unrelated call nearby when they heard the report of the shots fired” and headed to the scene where Begal was shot.
Tisch said NYPD officers brought Begal to New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital and that he “arrived in stable condition.” She added that Begal’s child was located “in the care of a family member” and was safe after the incident.
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
