Federal authorities are investigating a shooting involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Ontario, the second one in a little more than a week as enforcement operations unfold across the state.
ICE officers were conducting a vehicle stop around 6:30 a.m. at the 2800 block of Vineyard Ave in Ontario, according to Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. During the stop, an unknown person who was not the target pulled a vehicle in front of the officers, she said.
Officers ordered the driver to leave, McLaughlin said, but as the driver began to pull away “the car stopped and attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping.”
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle,” McLaughlin said. “The subject fled the scene and abandoned his vehicle.”
McLaughlin called it “another example of the threats our ICE officers are facing day-in and day-out as they risk their lives to enforce the law and arrest criminals.”
Immigration agents have been increasingly involved in aggressive confrontations with suspects and protesters.
Last week, ICE officers fired at a man in South Los Angeles who was in a vehicle after agents boxed his car in. The man, Carlitos Ricardo Parias, was shot in the elbow, and a deputy marshal was hit by what authorities said was a ricocheted bullet. They accused Parias of trying to ram agents’ cars.
On Wednesday, a man was hospitalized after a shooting in Phoenix involving an ICE agent. According to local media reports, ICE officers conducted a traffic stop, but the driver began speeding away and an officer in the vehicle’s path feared for his life and fired his weapon.
In September and October, there were two shootings, by ICE and Border Patrol, into vehicles in Chicago, one fatal. And in August, federal agents shot into a car in San Bernardino during an immigration stop.
In a news release, the Ontario Police Department said it responded to a request for emergency assistance from DHS officers regarding an officer-involved shooting.
Police officers were not involved in the initial incident, according to the release. Several officers then responded to the scene to provide traffic control and security while DHS conducted its investigation.
DHS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are investigating the incident, police said.
