NEW YORK — Oscar Belgal, the undocumented immigrant shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a car on a crowded New York City street Thursday, had been arrested twice over the last three years and was free on supervised release after being charged with selling fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine to an undercover narcotics detective last year, according to court documents and prosecutors.

An ICE agent fired seven rounds into the silver Honda Civic SUV after trying to block in Belgal, 28, at about 4 p.m. on Marble Hill Ave. near W. 225th St. in the Bronx. His 5-year-old son was in the backseat when ICE agents opened fire.

Belgal was struck in the neck, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a late-night press conference at the scene. The child was not harmed.

The Department of Homeland Security said on X that Belgal was “a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic” whom ICE had been searching for. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a press conference on Friday that Belgal is an associate of the Trinitarios street gang and may have “direct or indirect knowledge” of the shooting of a federal Customs and Border Protection officer in Fort Washington Park in Manhattan last year.

Mullin said that ICE agents took Belgal out of New York State and steps have already begun to deport him, though his lawyers filed a habeas petition in Manhattan federal court. In a subsequent order, Judge Paul Oetken prohibited the feds from removing him from the country absent a ruling from him and said he must remain in New York or New Jersey.

ICE agents tried to grab Belgal in September, but he ran away from them, Mullin said. When they cornered him in his car in the Bronx on Thursday, he sped off, nearly hitting the officers.

“Because of his escalation, we had to use force,” Mullin said.

In December 2025, Belgal was indicted on one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree and nine counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, according to court documents.

Belgal met with an undercover detective outside of his former Wadsworth Ave. apartment building in Washington Heights on at least eight separate occasions between Jan. 24, 2025 and Aug. 4, 2025 and sold him drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine and heroin, officials said. On Aug. 4, the undercover cop met Belgal at the same meeting place and arrested him.

A spokesperson for the New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office said Belgal has “been out on supervised release” for the charges. The case is still pending.

Belgal had been previously arrested in New York City for robbery in 2023, in which he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and was sentenced to five years’ probation, officials said.

Belgal lived at the Wadsworth Ave. building where prosecutors allege he sold drugs with his son and the boy’s mother, but he moved out at least a year ago, neighbors said.

One neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, described Belgal as “a bad man” who sold drugs outside their building. The woman added that police had been at the building looking for him roughly six months ago.

“Oscar knew the police were coming for him because he had other outstanding offenses,” the neighbor said. “That is why he moved.”

But Mary Anne Lopez, another resident at the building, had a very different impression of Belgal.

“He was like a family guy and a community guy. He was really big on helping our neighbors. I always saw him holding the door for the neighbors and helping older ladies bring in the groceries,” said Lopez, 43. “If you needed a parking space and he noticed that you needed a parking space, he’d be ‘Oh, come park here.’ He would hook you up.”

Belgal worked at a car wash across the street, the neighbor said. Every morning he brought his son’s mother to work, then returned to the building and brought his son to daycare, she said.

Lopez also claimed Belgal used to shoo away people selling or using drugs outside their building.

“I kind of felt safe when he would be out here because there’s a lot of drug use and weird people and when he was here, none of that was happening,” she said, adding that he regularly helped their super by sweeping in front of the building.

“I don’t know what happened, you know, but whatever happened, he didn’t deserve for that to happen, especially in broad daylight. There’s a child in the vehicle,” Lopez said of the shooting.

Under New York’s sanctuary laws, local officials are restricted in working with federal immigration officials unless certain conditions are met.

New York Legal Aid, which represented Belgal, said ICE must be held accountable.

“A justice system cannot be fair if accountability depends on who commits the offense,” the statement said. “Federal agents must not be afforded a different standard of justice simply because they wear a badge. We call on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to pursue accountability with the same resolve demonstrated by prosecutors in Minneapolis in cases involving federal immigration agents. The law must apply equally to everyone, and no one should be above it.”

Tisch said Thursday that the NYPD recovered surveillance camera footage that shows two ICE agents approaching Belgal as he backed into an empty parking space by a fire hydrant. The NYPD “was not involved in the incident,” Tisch said.

“One plainclothes federal law enforcement officer approaches the driver’s side window with his gun drawn,” Tisch said, describing the footage. “Another plainclothes officer also approaches the vehicle by the driver’s side headlight. The vehicle then starts to move forward and goes out of camera view.”

The shooting was not caught on camera, Tisch said.

The shooting sparked massive protests both at the scene and at New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where Belgal was taken to be treated. More than 300 New Yorkers held a protest at the scene, then marched to New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital, trapping ICE agents inside the building.

Protesters grabbed metal barriers blocking off the street and charged a row of cops before the officers were able to pull the barriers away from them. Cops arrested five people, who were charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, harassment and impeding government administration, police said Friday.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani tried to get Mullin and Trump to release Belgal, but was unsuccessful. Belgal’s son was handed over to relatives.

“What happened today was an outrage,” the Mayor said. “We know that ICE is rotten to its core. Today’s shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known.”

ICE agents have often been criticized for their heavy-handed tactics when they arrest undocumented immigrants. Arrests by ICE in New York State rose by nearly 70% over the summer from 927 in May to 1,567 in July, according to federal data compiled by the Deportation Data Project. There have also been several high-profile incidents where agents shot, wounded, or killed protesters, such as in Minneapolis in January when ICE agents fatally shot Renee Good.

The New York Immigration Coalition said that more than two dozen people have been shot by federal immigration officers in the last year across the country.

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(New York Daily News journalist Roni Jacobson contributed to this story.)

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