THE NEW YORK TIMES: Boy, 5, witnesses ICE agent shoot ‘illegal immigrant’ on busy New York City street

A federal immigration agent shot a man in New York City during what officials described as a “targeted enforcement action” meant to arrest an immigrant who lacked legal status and had a criminal record.

The shooting happened around 4pm in the Marble Hill neighbourhood and involved “federal law enforcement agents,” according to a New York Police Department statement posted online.

Marble Hill, a largely residential neighbourhood, is considered either part of upper Manhattan or at the southern edge of the Bronx. The shooting occurred along a strip of small stores and restaurants on West 225th Street, about a block from Broadway, as people returned from work and walked their children home from school in the late afternoon sunshine.

The police statement said New York City officers were not involved in the shooting.

A police spokesperson said the person who was shot had been taken to a nearby hospital and was conscious and receiving medical attention. The Police Department referred all other questions to the federal authorities. The Homeland Security Department, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Justin Miranda, who lives in Marble Hill near the shooting scene, said he was in his home when he heard five shots ring out just after 4pm. He said he ran outside and down the block toward the Marble Hill Metro-North Station.

There, he said, he saw several law enforcement officers in the street who appeared to be federal agents. He pulled out his phone and began recording.

One of the agents was standing next to a man who was sitting in the street near a vehicle, Miranda said. The man appeared to be bleeding from the area around his shoulder and neck, Miranda said, and was handcuffed behind his back, and was yelling in Spanish.

“The guy looked hurt,” he said. “He was alert, but definitely wounded.”

A video filmed by a bystander showed New York City officers arriving at the scene, picking up the wounded man as the ICE agents stood by, and carrying him toward Broadway and NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital a few blocks away.

Viely Herrera said she was standing at 225th Street and Broadway when she heard what she estimated to be five shots.

“It was just bam-bam-bam!” she said. “Everybody was shocked.”

Turning in the direction of the shots, Herrera said she watched an SUV crash into concrete barriers on the edge of 225th Street. A man came out of the vehicle holding his neck and shouting in Spanish, she said.

She said she saw a young boy in the back of the SUV who was crying. A woman tried to take him from the scene, Herrera said, but law enforcement officers would not let her.

“I’m so sad for that little boy,” she said. “That all happened right in front of him.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in a statement posted on social media, said that “early reports” indicated that ICE agents had “surrounded” the man and “a 5-year-old child in his car before firing multiple rounds.” The child was apparently unharmed, Mamdani added.

“This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation,” the mayor said. “I have called the president; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she had been briefed on the shooting and expected “federal authorities to provide a full and transparent accounting of the circumstances surrounding this incident.”

ICE has increased pressure on its agents to make more arrests across the United States in recent months, resulting in a surge that has largely occurred outside the public eye.

Arrests by ICE agents in New York state soared from 927 in May to 1,193 in June and 1,567 in July, according to federal data compiled by the Deportation Data Project, an academic group.

At least two dozen people have been shot at by federal immigration agents involved in President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign since he took office in January 2025. Six people have been fatally shot amid the ICE crackdown, including three U.S. citizens.

Traffic stops have been central to the surge in arrests since the summer. In July, traffic stops in Houston and Biddeford, Maine, ended with ICE agents fatally shooting people, casting a harsh spotlight on the agency’s tactics.

A photo from the shooting site in New York City shows a bullet hole in the driver’s side of the windshield of a silver vehicle.

Ted Fair, who lives in Marble Hill, said in an interview that he was walking home with his daughter on West 225th Street after picking her up at the 1 train station nearby on Broadway when they came upon the aftermath of the shooting near Marble Hill Avenue.

Several law enforcement agents were still at the scene, including one who was wearing a reflective vest of the kind worn by construction workers and wielding an assault-style weapon with one hand, and neighborhood residents had gathered there as well, Fair said.

By 7pm., a crowd of protesters was growing at the shooting site. The Rev. Emily DeTar Birt, a Unitarian minister, was among them.

“I have lived in this neighborhood for 10 years,” she said, choking up as she spoke. “There are a number of high schools here, a charter school and at least three daycares. This is happening in broad daylight in front of our kids.”