There is a particular weight that settles over a city when the sound of gunfire arrives in a place of ordinary life—a street corner, a school pickup, a parking space. On Thursday afternoon in Marble Hill, that weight descended as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot a man in a vehicle with his five-year-old child in the back seat, and the body camera footage released the following day offered a portrait not of the shooting itself, but of what came after.
The video, released Friday by the New York Police Department, shows the first officers arriving on the scene after the shooting. The NYPD said those officers responded to the aftermath and were not involved in the federal operation. In the footage, Oscar Bergal, 28, can be seen sitting on the ground, a man in a reflective vest carrying a long gun standing nearby. The officers call for an ambulance, then apparently decide not to wait—they place Bergal into a police vehicle and rush him to the hospital, carrying him into the emergency room themselves .
The Department of Homeland Security defended the shooting at a news conference Friday morning. An ICE official said Bergal "decided to not comply with lawful orders given by federal law enforcement officers." DHS claimed agents had tried to detain Bergal in September unsuccessfully, and that on Thursday he refused to exit his vehicle, accelerated, struck two government vehicles, and then "weaponized his vehicle" by accelerating toward other officers .
The department described Bergal as a Dominican national with a prior conviction for grand larceny and multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, and weapons possession. Court documents showed he was arrested in August 2025 for selling cocaine and fentanyl in Manhattan and had been released on supervised release .
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he attempted to negotiate with President Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin for Bergal's release. Mullin said Trump had offered to release Bergal into NYPD custody if the city wished to pursue charges, but that the mayor declined. A City Hall spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment .
Bergal's shooting prompted immediate protests, with five people taken into custody Thursday night. Mamdani called for the agency's abolition, saying "New York City will not stand by while ICE agents shoot New Yorkers." Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who spoke with Bergal's family, described them as "shaken and very, very nervous," but said the five-year-old child was in good spirits .
Bergal has since been taken to a detention facility outside New York state, according to DHS. The investigation continues.
AI Image Disclaimer: The visuals in this report were generated using artificial intelligence and are intended for editorial illustration only.
Sources: CBS News, News 9, New York Post, TIME, New York Daily News
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