ICE agents shoot man in Bronx car as child sits inside

ICE agents shot and wounded a man in his car in the Marble Hill area of New York City on Thursday while a young child sat inside, officials said.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, city police and witnesses described the shooting. In a statement, Mamdani said early reports showed agents “surrounded (the man) and a 5-year-old child in his car” before opening fire. The child was not physically hurt, the mayor said.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers later found the child with a relative after a wellness check. According to Tisch, the wounded man, 28, had faced arrest twice in the city, in 2023 and 2025.

Mamdani demands ICE agents leave the city

Mamdani said he spoke by phone with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Mullin to seek the release of the injured man. “Those negotiations were unsuccessful,” he told a late-night news conference.

He also demanded that ICE halt its enforcement work in New York City. “These actions are making the city less safe,” Mamdani said. “This city wants ICE out,” he said, adding that residents wanted the agency out of their schools, hospitals and streets. “We want ICE out of our city,” Mamdani said, and he asked that the agency stay “away from our kids.”

What the government says

The Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, said officers were carrying out a targeted operation in the Bronx. Officers wanted to detain a Dominican national with an earlier criminal conviction, it said.

During the operation, one officer fired his weapon and the man suffered injuries, the department said. According to the department, ICE agents gave the man first aid at the scene, and he survived and went to a local hospital. In its statement, the department called the wounded man a “criminal illegal alien.” The shooting happened at around 4pm local time.

Pedro Almarez, who works at a nearby restaurant, said he heard gunfire and stepped outside. “There were a lot of ICE officers, three or four cars,” he said. According to Almarez, city police reached the scene about 10 minutes later. Moreover, the man stayed in his car until an ambulance arrived, and crews then took him to hospital, the witness said.

Police later taped off a city block. A woman watching from a balcony shouted that police were “taking our children,” a witness said.

A wider pattern

Since Trump came back to power, immigration agents have opened fire on at least 21 people, seven of whom died. Those shootings have sparked protests across the US. Critics argue that the push by Trump to step up deportations has led to more violent confrontations. They also accuse his administration of shielding the agents involved from accountability.

Trump, however, says many migrants must leave the country. He has often blamed them in broad terms for fraud and violent crime. For now, the shooting has deepened a clash between the mayor and the Trump administration over the role of ICE agents in New York.