ICE agent fires in Manhattan

On Thursday afternoon, ICE agents shot a man identified as Oscar Belgal in Manhattan's Marble Hill neighborhood near the Bronx.

Belgal hospitalized after shooting

The New York Police Department said Belgal was hospitalized after reportedly being shot in the neck. Witnesses told local media agents fired as many as seven rounds. The child in the car appeared unharmed.

Agent identified as Brenden Cuni

Footage shows a man in a yellow construction vest brandishing a modified AR-fifteen-style rifle.Court documents and social media reviewed by WIRED identify him as Brenden Cuni, an ICE supervisor with the National Fugitive Operations team.

DHS says target was undocumented

The Department of Homeland Security stated ICE agents were attempting to apprehend an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic with a prior conviction for grand larceny.Cuni identified himself as an ICE agent to NYPD officers.

Pattern of alleged violence emerges

A WIRED review of federal court cases and public records shows Cuni has repeatedly been at the center of illegal ICE street arrests in New York and beyond.

Judges find arrests unlawful

In recent months, federal judges have repeatedly found arrests involving Cuni unlawful. One judge called an arrest warrant he signed fraudulent, while another said video evidence contradicts his sworn account of an arrest.

“fraudulent”

Bronx man alleges Taser abuse

A twenty-one-year-old Bronx man claims that during his arrest in October last year, Cuni tripped him hard enough to break a tooth, then shocked him with a Taser about six times while handcuffed on the…

Judge rejects assault charge against protester

In Minneapolis last December, federal prosecutors charged a protester with assaulting Cuni.A judge later dismissed that charge with prejudice, writing that the evidence was weak and no federal officers saw a tackle or other assault.

“weak”

Judge finds fraudulent warrant

Judge Gary Brown of the Eastern District of New York found that Cuni searched five databases for a Bronx man and found nothing, then signed a warrant saying the searches had confirmed he was undocumented.

Video contradicts Cuni's account

In August, US District Judge Brian Cogan said doorbell footage largely contradicts Cuni's account of Fernando Fabian Chaglla's arrest.Video shows Chaglla being handcuffed less than three minutes into the encounter.Cogan ruled the arrest unlawful.

“largely contradicts”

Government withdraws Cuni's statements

In a third case in June, government lawyers withdrew what a federal judge described as inaccurate, sworn representations by Cuni and other officials, including a claim that a detained man had skipped his ICE check-ins.