ICE Agent Shoots Unarmed Man in Brooklyn During Deportation Order

A federal ICE agent reportedly shot an unarmed man while executing a deportation order on another man in Brooklyn on Thursday. Two agents were escorting Gaspar Avedano-Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant, from a Brooklyn home when another man tried to intervene. An agent reportedly fired a shot, which hit the man in the face. New York Daily News reported that the injured man was Avedano-Hernandez's brother yet ICE did not confirm their relationship. A video of the incident shows one of the brothers struggling with the two ICE agents before one agent in a light grey hoodie Tasers him as he’s pushed against a car, according to the Daily News. The shot was allegedly fired a second later. “We saw people in the street, trying to get him handcuffed,” a witness told the newspaper. “There were a lot of people involved. The next thing I know there was this big bang.” A law enforcement source told the Daily News that the man was unarmed but was holding something in his hand at the time of the shooting.

ICE said in a statement that Avedano-Hernandez had been in the country illegally and was deported twice before. The statement said officers were “physically attacked” while trying to arrest Avendano-Hernandez, who they said was convicted in New York City of assault in 2011. He is “currently in ICE custody, along with one additional individual whose identity has not been released. Two ICE officers were transported to a local hospital for treatment,” the statement said. ICE reportedly began targeting Avedano-Hernandez after he was stopped by the NYPD for driving around with fake Connecticut license plates earlier in the week. He was previously involved in a 2016 domestic violence investigation.