New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Sunday compared the ICE agent who shot a man in Marble Hill while the victim’s five-year-old son was inside the car to a “mass shooter.” His statements came after authorities released new images of the controversial incident.
New York Police Department (NYPD) body camera footage shows officers responding to the scene of the shooting on Thursday afternoon and finding an ICE agent wearing a construction vest and holding a long gun.
“He has a gun,” says one of the police officers when the police vehicle stops.
Other surveillance images released by authorities show some moments before the shooting. In one of them, an officer runs up to the Honda of Oscar Bergal, 28, and displays a gun. However, the images do not allow us to clearly determine whether he was identified as a federal official.
From another angle, Bergal is seen driving away in his car while gunshots are heard. Several nearby pedestrians duck for cover.
The images were one of the central topics of the interview that Mamdani gave on Sunday to the MS NOW program Connect with Jacob Soboroff. During the conversation, the mayor harshly questioned the actions of the federal agents.
«I think ICE has shown time and time again that it considers the law a mere suggestion. There’s a reason the NYPD doesn’t shoot at a moving vehicle. There is also a reason why law enforcement officers must carry identifying information and wear uniforms,” Mamdani said.
«In that video and in those that have been released since then you can see people and passers-by who do not even know what they are witnessing. “The images are almost as if you are looking at a mass shooter, rather than someone supposedly representing a federal agency,” he added.
On Thursday night, Mamdani revealed that he had attempted to negotiate with President Donald Trump for Bergal’s release, but was unable to reach an agreement. Bergal, originally from the Dominican Republic, was later taken from the nearby NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital as local police pushed back protesters who had gathered there.
The Oct. 8 shooting became another flashpoint amid growing controversy over the deployment of ICE agents in New York City. Mamdani also addressed this concern during his interview.
“That’s why so many people are deeply concerned about ICE’s actions and the fact that this case is just a small sample of a much larger problem,” he said.
The ICE agent who appears with the long gun at the scene of the shooting had already been seen participating in federal operations in New York.
In October 2025, our sister publication, amNewYork, observed the same agent during a federal raid on Canal Street, where protests over mass arrests broke out and, according to the outlet, some protesters were mistreated. He was also seen detaining immigrants who were attending court hearings to which they were legally required to appear, resulting in the separation of families. The officer was also present in Minneapolis when a pregnant woman was forcibly removed from her vehicle.
The Marble Hill shooting has sparked outrage in different parts of the city and several protests, as well as criticism of the NYPD’s actions.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democratic congressional candidate who was pushed to the ground during clashes with police that night, called for the resignation of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
“Instead of condemning ICE’s violence, Commissioner Tisch attempted to justify the shooting by listing our neighbor’s history with police,” Chevalier stated after Tisch mentioned Bergal’s previous arrests.
For its part, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stated that Bergal had ties to the Trinitarios gang and described him as a “criminal alien with an irregular immigration status.”
Meanwhile, sources cited by amNewYork assure that Tisch has no intention of resigning and that Mamdani does not plan to ask him to leave office either.
