Browse
Log in / Register
Share
New York — Updated May 9, 2026. Newly released surveillance footage places a federal immigration agent and a 28-year-old driver face to face for only a few seconds before a single gunshot ends the encounter. The shooter, an ICE agent, put a bullet in the neck of Oscar Belgal; inside the car, according to authorities, was Belgal's 5-year-old son.
NYPD cameras captured the scene Thursday around 4 p.m. on 225th Street in Marble Hill. The clip shows two plainclothes agents, one wearing a construction vest, walking toward a parked sedan. It is the clearest public look yet at an operation that has prompted protests, countercharges, and a rift between city and federal officials.
The NYPD footage begins with the agents moving in from the sidewalk. Their clothes are civilian: a dark jacket and a reflective vest. There is no marked police cruiser visible. The camera angle keeps the sedan in frame, then cuts off before the gunfire.
A separate clip from an NYPD body camera shows what happened after the shot. Officers lift Belgal out of the vehicle and load him into a police vehicle for the ride to the hospital. Officials have not reported any injuries to the child.
DHS says Belgal was not stopped by accident. He was classified as a "criminal illegal alien" because of two prior arrests in New York City: one in 2023 for robbery, the other for criminal sale of a controlled substance. Federal officials also say he had dodged ICE in an earlier encounter.
Belgal is a native of the Dominican Republic. According to DHS, he has ties to the Trinitarios gang, which authorities say was behind last year's shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer. That connection, officials say, is why he became a target.
“Oscar has either direct or indirect knowledge of the shooting. And that's why he became a target,” one senior federal official said.
The most sensitive point is the 5-year-old boy. Federal officials say the agents did not realize the child was inside. When they made contact, Belgal accelerated, slammed into two vehicles, and appeared to drive toward the agents, according to the federal account.
“Oscar knew he had a child in his car. Oscar chose to accelerate at a high rate of speed and ram two different vehicles as he was, as appears to be going towards officers,” the official said. The agent who fired believed he was about to be run over, officials said.
Immigrant-rights advocates have seized on the child's presence, asking why agents did not wait or call off the arrest once they saw a minor in the vehicle. The question is likely to shape any outside review of the shooting.
By Friday, the shooting had drawn demonstrators to Foley Square in Manhattan and to the same Marble Hill block where the shooting happened. Some chanted at police; one protester named Mo shouted, “Get the [expletive] out our city.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul has asked federal immigration enforcement to pause in New York while the incident is investigated. Federal officials, however, say they intend to keep going after undocumented immigrants with criminal records.
Hochul and federal officials spoke Thursday night. The state has not confirmed any agreement, though the federal side said cooperation would be possible if New York gets advance notice of future operations. No such arrangement has been announced, and it is unclear whether it will be put into writing.
New York's own immigration enforcement policies have shifted in recent months. Mayor Eric Adams has approved limited cooperation with federal authorities, but state law still blocks most NYPD involvement in ICE civil arrests. Thursday's shooting tests how far that cooperation goes.
The legal review will turn on the same fact: whether Belgal's car was moving toward the agents when the shot was fired. Courts generally allow officers to use deadly force when someone is an imminent threat of serious harm. If video shows the car steering at the agent, the shooting could be justified. If Belgal was trying to leave, the calculus changes.
No charges have been announced against the agent who fired, and officials have not released his name. The NYPD has made its own footage available, but it is unclear if a separate use-of-force investigation by ICE or federal prosecutors will be made public.
Belgal's current hospital condition has not been disclosed. The federal case against him combines old criminal allegations with new claims that he endangered officers and a child during the Thursday afternoon encounter.
For now, the video gives New Yorkers a rare, uncomfortable look at a federal arrest gone violently wrong in the middle of a residential street. The political fight over how ICE operates in the city is far from over.
