Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been involved in a shooting that despatched one particular person to the hospital whereas they had been conducting a focused visitors stop in California’s Central Valley, the agency stated Tuesday.
The ICE officers fired defensive photographs after the particular person they stopped tried to run an agent over, performing ICE Director Todd Lyons stated in a assertion shared with NCS by the Department of Homeland Security.
The shooting occurred close to Interstate 5 in Patterson, about 90 miles south of Sacramento.
The DHS assertion recognized the goal of the vehicle stop as “Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, an 18th Street Gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder.”
“As officers approached the car, the wanted gang member weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run an officer over. Following their training, our officers fired defensive shots to protect themselves, their fellow agents, and the public,” the assertion continued.
DHS says its agents have been the goal of accelerating violence, citing greater than 180 vehicle attacks since Trump’s second time period. But the administration’s preliminary accounts of shootings involving federal agents have, in some instances, modified over time – or been confirmed unsuitable altogether.
The phrase “weaponized his/her vehicle” has been repeated by officials together with former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in describing Renee Good, a Minneapolis mom shot and killed by an ICE agent this yr.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office advised NCS it’s helping with the investigation and confirmed no native regulation enforcement was involved. The FBI is on scene, Lyons stated.
Roads across the space are anticipated to be closed for the remainder of the day, the sheriff’s workplace stated in a social media post.
There have been a number of shootings involving ICE and different federal agents this yr, together with people who led to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
This is a growing story and might be up to date.