Senior Homeland Security officials defended the ICE officers involved in the shooting of a Dominican man, who was wounded in the presence of his 5-year-old son, in New York City on Thursday.
\n\nDHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin blamed the man who was shot, Oscar Bergal, for endangering the life of the child, who was seating in the back seat of Bergal’s car.
\n\n“We weren’t aware the child was in the car. I can tell you that, but you know who was? Oscar. Oscar knew he had a child in his car,” Mullin said in a press briefing Friday at ICE’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
\n\nAccording to a timeline of events provided by Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations Marcos Charles during the briefing, ICE officers tried to arrest Bergal, 28, on Thursday afternoon.
\n\nTo conduct the arrest, the ICE officers used two vehicles to block Bergal’s car. After he refused orders to exit his car, Bergal accelerated and smashed into the ICE vehicles, Charles said.
\n\nCharles said Bergal “then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate, going towards other officers.” The officers responded by firing their weapons, believing “that their life and the life of the partners and general…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health