“Abolish ICE”: Community Leaders Demand Accountability After the Marble Hill Shooting
Demonstrators and Mayor Zohran Mamdani called for ICE’s abolition after a man was shot with a child in his car. Protests continued as federal officials defended the operation.
Community leaders and immigration advocates took to the microphones after the Marble Hill shooting, joining calls for answers and accountability. The Facebook video below captures their public response as demands to release evidence and abolish ICE grew.
Demonstrators called for ICE’s abolition in New York City on Friday, October 9, after a federal immigration officer shot a man in Marble Hill the previous afternoon with a 5-year-old boy in his car. Mayor Zohran Mamdani also urged the agency’s abolition, while federal officials defended the operation.
Officials said the child was physically unharmed. The demonstrations began Thursday near the shooting scene and outside NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Inwood. Marble Hill belongs to Manhattan, although the neighborhood receives municipal services through the Bronx, a distinction that has produced differing geographic descriptions in coverage.
What officials say happened
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said police received emergency calls at 4:04 p.m. Thursday near 2 Marble Hill Avenue. In her preliminary account, surveillance footage showed two plainclothes federal officers approaching the driver's vehicle, one with his gun drawn. The vehicle moved forward and left the camera's view. That camera did not capture the gunfire, she said.
Tisch identified the injured man as Oscar Belgal and said at least one ICE agent fired seven rounds, striking him in the neck. NYPD officers arrived afterward and took him to the hospital. She said the department had no involvement in the federal operation before the shooting.
Federal officials defended the operation Friday. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said agents feared for their lives, alleged that Belgal accelerated into two vehicles and said they did not know a child was inside his car. Those claims about the confrontation remain under scrutiny; the publicly released videos do not settle whether the gunfire was justified.
Tisch separately described a grand-larceny guilty plea arising from a 2023 arrest and a pending drug-sale case. These are distinct from DHS's allegations about gang associations and the disputed circumstances of Thursday's shooting.
CNN reports on newly released footage of the Marble Hill encounter. The NYPD surveillance camera did not capture the gunfire itself. Content note: This report concerns a shooting and may contain distressing footage.
From a hospital gathering to a citywide demand
The Bronx Times reported hundreds gathering Thursday with homemade signs and megaphones, chanting "ICE out of NYC." At the hospital, the demonstration continued as federal vehicles departed. ABC7 reported that police arrested five protesters on obstruction charges and issued court appearance tickets. Those charges are allegations, not findings of guilt.
Friday's Foley Square rally brought together Hands Off NYC, immigrant-rights organizations and elected officials. According to amNewYork, marchers later headed to Varick Street. Their demands included Belgal's release, an independent investigation and disclosure of federal body-camera footage. ABC7 reported that demonstrators also demanded ICE's abolition.
For organizers, the shooting also raised questions about ordinary neighborhood spaces. Protesters called on businesses to stop allowing their property to be used for immigration operations, alleging that agents had staged at a nearby Target parking lot. Target told amNewYork it had no cooperative agreements with ICE or other immigration-enforcement agencies.
Mamdani’s written statement Thursday ended with “Abolish ICE.” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams described residents' fear and anger in a separate statement and demanded release of evidence. Their responses placed neighborhood safety and public accountability at the center of the dispute with federal authorities.
Watch ABC7’s report on the demonstrations and community reaction.
The questions still open
A federal judge on Friday temporarily barred Belgal's deportation after lawyers challenged his detention. ABC7 reported that he was held at MDC-Brooklyn and that his lawyers said he remained in pain with a bullet still in his body. The court order concerns his removal from the country; it does not determine whether the shooting was lawful.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said her office was investigating. The key unresolved issues include the full sequence before agents fired and what federal body-camera footage shows. For the neighborhoods that mobilized, the next test is whether those demands for evidence and accountability produce a fuller public record.
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Community leaders and immigration advocates took to the microphones after the Marble Hill shooting, joining calls for answers and accountability. The Facebook video below captures their public response as demands to release evidence and abolish ICE grew.