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San Bernardino police responded Saturday morning to what they described as a “officially involved shooting” involving federal immigration officials.
When officers responded to the Acacia Avenue and Baseline Street areas before 9am, they were encountered an immigration agent who said they had been fired by suspects who fled the scene.
Soon afterwards, the San Bernardino Police Station said an unidentified man contacted the dispatch centre and said the masked man tried to pull him, smashing the car window and shooting him. He sought police assistance, saying he didn’t know who they were.
In a statement Saturday night, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said the agents were conducting targeted enforcement activities in San Bernardino, and “customs and border protection” officials were injured during the vehicle halt when subjects tried to run by denying the vehicle exit.
“During the course of the incident, the suspect drove to officers and attacked two CBP officers in the car,” the statement read. As a result, CBP officials have released the firearm “in self-defense,” officials said.
According to a news release from the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, federal agents smashed the driver and passenger windows of the vehicle and fired it three times. Video The group uploaded to Facebook appears to capture the interaction, showing agents wearing “police” vests screaming at people inside to roll the window.
“Lavoy is not in Abria,” the man said from within.
Soon afterwards, the video captured the sounds of shattering the glass and what sounded like a three-shot. The video showed a man wearing a hat with CBP.
The video appears to show the vehicle departing after the windows are destroyed, but does not capture the driver hitting the officer.
“This was a clear abuse of power,” the Inland Coalition of Immigration Justice said at its release. “We need to fire civilians, harass families for no reason and target the voices of our community.”
According to the San Bernardino Police Department, officers later placed the vehicle in the 1000 block of Mount Mount View Drive and made contact with the man, but said it was unclear what federal agents wanted from him.
“Under California Values Act, our officers have left the scene as California law enforcement agencies are prohibited from assisting federal employees in immigration enforcement, and as investigations are being conducted by federal authorities,” police said in a news release.
In a statement, a DHS spokesman misidentified the police station and described it as the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, saying that the local government had been in custody but then left him free.
“The decision is another horrifying example of the California Support Corps’ support policy in which subjects refused to adhere to and injured two officers, but instead protecting the community,” an unidentified spokesperson said.
At 1:12pm, federal officials demanded assistance from the department as a large crowd had been formed when they tried to arrest the suspect, police said. At the time, federal agents told police he wanted him to be allegedly assaulting a federal officer.
Police responded with crowd control and provided assistance, according to the department.
The Inland Coalition for Immigration Justice said in a news release that agents did not present a warrant and remain outside the home until 3:45pm “putting pressure on individuals to go outside.”
The group added that the two community members were “detained using unnecessary forces, including one to speak up.”
“Federal agents have requested assistance during legal arrests for assaulting federal officials when the crowd raised safety concerns for potential officers,” the police department said in a statement. “This is not an immigration-related arrest and will be prohibited by California law.”
Police say federal agents are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
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