Attorney seeks release of man shot by ICE in New York, says bullet remains in his body

A New York City man shot and wounded by a federal immigration agent with his 5-year-old son in the back seat of his car still had a bullet in his body nearly 24 hours later, his attorney said on Friday, as US immigration officials defended the shooting.

Speaking outside Manhattan federal court after a preliminary hearing, attorney Harold Solis said Oscar Bergal was afraid and deeply concerned about his son.

“The first thing he asked me is whether his son is OK,” Solis said.

Solis said lawyers had filed a habeas corpus petition seeking Bergal’s immediate release and challenging the legality of his detention. They had spoken only briefly with him before Friday’s hearing and were seeking more information about his condition and what happened.

“All I know is that the family wants to ensure that justice is served here, and that Oscar is looked after,” Solis said.

US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at a press conference on Friday that officers did not know the child was in the car when they opened fire. He accused Bergal, a Dominican who was the target of the operation, of endangering both officers and the child.

Bergal refused to exit his car when approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Thursday afternoon in Marble Hill, Manhattan’s northernmost neighborhood that is physically connected to the Bronx, according to ICE officials.

Marcos Charles, a senior ICE official, said Bergal accelerated his car, struck two ICE vehicles and appeared to be “going towards officers” when they began shooting.

In other violent incidents, initial accounts from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security have repeatedly been contradicted by video and other evidence, sometimes in court, and Reuters was unable to verify Charles’ account.

Charles said Bergal suffered a superficial wound to his neck and was being held in a detention facility outside New York state. Bergal’s 5-year-old son was in the back seat at the time of the shooting, according to police.

Solis said he did not know where in Bergal’s body the bullet remained. Asked whether Bergal had been prematurely discharged from the hospital, he said he was not prepared to comment but that lawyers were deeply concerned about his well-being and were trying to determine whether he was receiving medical attention.

Friday’s hearing focused on preliminary questions, including whether the challenge to Bergal’s detention should proceed in Manhattan or New Jersey, Solis said.

Lawyers believed Bergal was still in New York City when they filed the petition on Thursday night, but the government said he had already been transferred to New Jersey, according to Solis.

Solis said lawyers would speak with Bergal over the weekend and advise the court on Tuesday (October 13) whether they believed the case should continue in Manhattan or be transferred to New Jersey.

“But make no mistake, one way or another, this case will be heard. The question is, which court? But it will be heard,” he said.

Before Bergal, federal immigration officers had shot at least 21 people, killing seven of them, across the US since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 promising record-breaking deportations, an unusually high number for civil law enforcement operations.

Bergal can be seen sitting by a car with his hands cuffed behind him and patches of what appear to be fresh blood on the tarmac in a three-minute body-worn camera video released by the New York Police Department on Friday. 

Several agents dressed in plain clothes stand around him, including one holding a rifle and wearing a fluorescent reflective vest.

A crowd of angry onlookers gathered outside a corner store shouts at the agents from the sidewalk. Several city police officers pick up Bergal by his arms and legs, put him in their car and take him to a hospital.

Mullin said body-worn camera video from ICE agents would also be released.

Bergal is a Dominican who is in the country illegally and had previously evaded an effort by ICE agents to apprehend him in September, according to US officials. 

He pleaded guilty last year to fourth-degree grand larceny for stealing something from another person, leading to a sentence of five years on probation, and is due in court in December on charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance, to which he pleaded not guilty, according to New York court records.