Federal agent fires on man amid Southern California immigration operation

A federal immigration officer shot a man Thursday morning in San Bernardino County, a shooting now under investigation by FBI agents.

The incident, according to the Department of Homeland Security, occurred around 6:30 a.m. in the 2800 block of South Vineyard Avenue in Ontario.

In a statement to KTLA, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were conducting a traffic stop when an unidentified person who was not the target of the enforcement operation pulled his car in front of the federal agents’ vehicles.

“The officers ordered the driver to leave the scene. When the driver began to drive away, the vehicle stopped and attempted to run over the officers by reversing directly toward them without stopping,” the statement read. “The ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle.”

It is unclear whether the driver was shot, but federal officials said he abandoned his car and fled the scene.

McLaughlin said federal immigration agents are facing a 1,000 percent increase in assaults against them, including cars being used as weapons, and death threats against agents are up 8,000 percent.

“This is not the first time DHS has claimed that vehicles are being used against them,” Javier Hernandez of the Homeland Alliance for Immigrant Justice told KTLA.

Hernandez and other immigrant rights activists showed up to the scene in Ontario after news of the incident spread.

He said, “What we know so far is that a person was shot. We do not have any more information than that.” “What we are asking from the city of Ontario, the Ontario Police Department, is if they have more information and that they should release that information.”

At a nearby mobile home park, a second scene was unfolding, as footage shows part of the park cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape and at least two Ontario Police vehicles on the scene.

The person who was shot is believed to live in the mobile home park. Family members of the man who spoke to KTLA on condition of anonymity only identified him as Carlos, saying he had been shot in the shoulder.

However, what is not clear is whether Carlos was the target of the immigration enforcement operation or the uninvolved driver who intervened and attempted to run over ICE agents, leading to the shooting.

Family members told KTLA’s Elena Apovyan they were unaware of his whereabouts and condition.

“We know that DHS put out a statement saying violence against these officers was up 8,000%, so this is not the first time this information has come up,” Hernandez told KTLA. “We have also seen how this information is not necessarily accurate.”

As for the Ontario Police Department, officials said they were not involved in the initial incident and responded to assist with traffic control and scene security.