New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations across the city after plainclothes officers shot and wounded a driver during an enforcement action in Marble Hill last week, leaving the man hospitalized and sparking widespread protests.
The shooting occurred Thursday afternoon when agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confronted 28-year-old Oscar Belgal while he was inside a vehicle with his 5-year-old child. According to city officials, at least one federal officer discharged seven rounds into the vehicle, striking Belgal in the neck. The child was not physically hurt and was placed with family members.
Mayor criticizes federal tactics
In an interview broadcast Sunday on MS NOW, Mamdani strongly criticized the conduct of the federal officers involved in the confrontation. Reviewing video footage of the encounter, the mayor noted that the agents were dressed in plain clothes and high-visibility construction vests rather than standard law enforcement uniforms.
Mamdani told MS NOW that bystanders on the street were unable to tell who was firing weapons, remarking that the imagery resembled a mass shooter rather than a legitimate federal law enforcement team. Mamdani argued that the agents treated legal rules as optional, pointing out that New York Police Department guidelines strictly prohibit officers from shooting at moving automobiles in typical circumstances.
Surveillance and police body-camera footage released following the incident showed an agent wearing a yellow vest and brandishing a long gun, prompting an arriving city officer to warn that an armed person was present. Belgal drove forward as gunfire erupted before crashing, while bystanders fled for safety, local outlets reported.
Clashing accounts and rising tensions
Federal authorities offered a starkly different account of the encounter, describing Belgal as a Dominican national with gang affiliations who refused commands to step out and struck two government vehicles. Belgal was treated at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital before being transferred to a private detention center in New Jersey and subsequently booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to court statements reported by media outlets.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch stated that Belgal had two prior local arrests: a 2023 robbery charge that resulted in a guilty plea to grand larceny with probation, and a pending 2025 narcotics charge. Local police officers were not part of the federal operation and responded after reports of gunfire.
The incident ignited immediate street demonstrations that drew scrutiny toward local police. Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for the local congressional district, was shoved to the ground by police during demonstrations outside the hospital and later urged Tisch to step down. Mamdani defended Tisch staying in her post, while calling the rough handling of any New Yorker inexcusable.
National fallout and pending reviews
The encounter in Marble Hill has drawn national attention, including from pop singer Harry Styles, who paused his concert at Madison Square Garden on Saturday to acknowledge Belgal and urge the crowd to care for one another, Billboard reported.
Mamdani stated that he spoke with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Thursday evening, but attempts to negotiate Belgal’s release were unsuccessful. The Bronx District Attorney’s Office has opened an inquiry into the shooting, and city leaders plan a comprehensive internal review examining both the federal agents’ actions and the local police response to the subsequent street demonstrations.
