Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot a U.S. citizen in Ontario, California, on Thursday morning after the driver allegedly reversed toward them during a traffic stop, in the latest incident involving Americans harmed as a result of Republican President Donald Trump’s draconian crackdown.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said federal agents were conducting a traffic stop on the 4900 block of Vineyard Avenue around 6:30 a.m. when an unknown individual pulled in front of them.
Agents ordered the driver to leave, but DHS claims they instead reversed toward the agents without stopping. “An ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle. The subject fled the scene and abandoned his vehicle,” McLaughlin said.
In an update on Friday, a DHS spokesperson confirmed that they shot 24-year-old Carlos Jimenez, a U.S. citizen.
The agency says Jimenez was arrested by federal agents at Riverside Community Hospital following treatment for a non-threatening gunshot wound. He’s currently in custody with pending charges of assault, resisting an officer, and impeding an investigation. They also said Jimenez was not their intended target.
His lawyers claim Jimenez was shot from behind while trying to leave after warning agents that children were in the area gathering at a bus stop; federal officials say he reversed his car toward officers in a threatening manner. Community members and a congresswoman have demanded answers and a full, transparent investigation, citing a need to see all available evidence, such as body-camera footage.
This is becoming a common occurance around the nation, as Trump’s storm troopers, often masked and heavily armed, crash into communities where citizens clearly object to their tactics.
Washington, D.C., police have launched an investigation into another DHS-involved shooting during a routine traffic stop, after a Homeland Security agent who is part of the president’s federal task force fired the shots.
No one was injured, but a D.C. police officer who was part of the stop made the stunning admission in court that he was told by his superior to omit from his report the fact that a federal agent fired multiple times at a driver during a traffic stop.
“If there were a passenger in this seat, they would be dead,” a protester said outside MPD headquarters.
Carlitos Ricardo Parias, an influential Los Angeles man who livestreams US immigration enforcement operations on social media remained hospitalized on Wednesday after he was shot in the elbow and arrested by federal agents.
Authorities allege that Parias, a TikTok creator with a large following, began driving his car back and forth, hitting two of the federal vehicles with his vehicle in an attempt to flee after agents surrounded him and boxed in his car on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at around 8:50 a.m.
He was shot in the elbow during the incident while a ricochet bullet hit a deputy US marshal in the hand. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said immigration agents were trying to detain Parias, who authorities said is undocumented, and use three cars to box in Parias in his car.
Police body camera footage shows another federal immigration agent who fatally shot Mexican immigrant Silverio Villegas González, describing his own injuries during a vehicle pursuit as “nothing major.” That account contrasts with the Trump administration’s characterization of events in suburban Chicago earlier this month.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said the officer was “seriously injured” by Silverio Villegas González, who allegedly tried to evade arrest after agents pulled over his car in Franklin Park. contrasts from Trump officials’ account
Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her in the Brighton Park section of Chicago.
The attorney for Martinez has claimed that body-camera footage captures one of the officers saying: “Do something, bitch,” before opening fire, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
That shooting occurred in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, as immigration agents, at the behest of the second Trump administration, have been scouring Illinois’s largest city for people to deport.
U.S. District Judge Heather McShain denied a request by the federal government to detain Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, pending trial.
Her lawyer, Christopher Parente, said Martinez is a U.S. citizen, works for a school and has several supportive letters about her character filed with the court. Parente also said she has a valid firearm and concealed-carry license.
Ruiz is also a U.S. citizen and self-employed as a DJ, his attorney, Ben Horowitz, said.
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