Newly released surveillance video is adding another piece to the story after ICE agents shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in New York City. Belgal, a Dominican Republic native, was shot in the neck and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the report. The video does not show the shooting itself, but it does show the tense lead-up.
In the footage, agents approach Belgal’s gray Honda CR-V. He appears to speed away, and the agents pursue him for about half a block. Then the camera loses the action. The timing is frustratingly cinematic, with the surveillance system capturing the setup while missing the central scene. Dramatic, yes. Complete, no.
NYPD body-camera footage from the aftermath has also been released. That video shows the moments after an ICE agent shot a man in New York City, but it does not replace the missing body-camera footage from the ICE agents involved. The public has now seen the lead-up and the aftermath, while the crucial middle portion remains out of view.
ICE says Belgal accelerated his vehicle at the agents, smashing into two of them and forcing them to open fire. Marcos Charles, who leads ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, said Belgal “accelerated” at the agents, “smashing” into two of them. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed that the ICE agents were wearing body cameras, but that footage had not been released to the public.
That missing video matters. Officials have offered an account of what happened, but the public still cannot see the agents’ perspective. Political arguments, as usual, have sprinted ahead of the available evidence. Cameras apparently had no trouble recording the buildup, then decided to take a coffee break when the most important moment arrived.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has condemned ICE and referred to Belgal as “a New Yorker,” a description that has drawn sharp criticism from Bronx residents. Migdalia Martinez, whose 12-year-old son Jacob Freytas was fatally shot during gang violence while riding his bicycle in July, rejected that framing.
“I don’t consider him a New Yorker,” Martinez told The New York Post. “The only thing I do consider him as is trash, nothing else but trash. And I don’t consider New York, my home, as trash.”
The New York Post reported, citing sources and court records, that Belgal allegedly entered the United States illegally around 2022, robbed someone at gunpoint in Fordham Heights the following year, allegedly sold dangerous drugs after a 2025 conviction and was allegedly connected to a violent street gang. Authorities suspected the Trinitarios gang was involved in the shooting that killed Martinez’s son.
Homeland Security officials have also said that gang was involved in the July 2025 shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer at Fort Washington Park. Officials said they were investigating possible links between Belgal and the gang when ICE agents approached him.
Security footage showed plainclothes ICE agents rushing toward Belgal’s parked vehicle in Marble Hill at about 4 p.m. with guns drawn. Belgal then drove away and disappeared from the view of the security cameras. The shooting happened outside that camera angle.
Mullin pushed back against Mamdani’s criticism during a press conference, saying, “We arrest thousands, weekly, that are criminals and HE turns a blind eye to it and won’t even stand up for his own NYPD…”
For now, the released surveillance video shows a confrontation and a vehicle fleeing, while the NYPD footage shows the aftermath. It does not show the shooting itself. The unreleased ICE body-camera footage could provide the missing perspective, and that is exactly why its eventual release will receive so much attention. Public safety debates are not improved by slogans, labels or political theater. They are improved by the evidence.
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