ICE Arrest In Far Uptown Manhattan Ends In Shooting: Two Versions Of The Story

On Thursday afternoon, October 8, a guy named Oscar Belgal was shot by ICE agents in the very most northern neighborhood of Manhattan known as Marble Hill. Belgal suffered a non-life-threatening injury to his neck, and received treatment at the uptown campus of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Here is a picture of Belgal from the New York Post:

The shooting immediately set off a round of protests from local activists, calling for abolition of ICE as well as various other of the usual demands. Here (again from the New York Post) is a picture of demonstrators outside the hospital where Belgal was taken for treatment:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani put out a statement later on Thursday. Here is the heart of it:

This afternoon in Marble Hill, a New Yorker was shot by an ICE agent in a residential neighborhood. Early reports indicate agents surrounded him and a 5-year-old child in his car before firing multiple rounds. We believe the child was physically unharmed. This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation. I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities. Our thoughts are with the injured New Yorker and his family tonight. We are praying for his recovery. Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets. Get ICE away from our children. Abolish ICE.

So, according to Mamdani, Belgal is a “New Yorker.” Was there any reason that ICE just happened to be confronting Belgal on Thursday afternoon? No mention of that in Mamdani’s statement. And was ICE justified in seeking to arrest him, let alone in shooting him?

In the two days since the event took place, both the New York Post and the New York Times have provided extensive coverage. The contrast between the coverages of the two papers could not be more dramatic. The short version is that the Times suppresses and downplays absolutely everything important about the story.

Today, the Belgal story made the cover of the Post, with six full pages of coverage inside. As to the question of “Who is Oscar Belgal?” the lead story has the headline “‘Criminal illegal’ migrant shot by ICE has rap sheet of alarming crimes — and is ‘absolutely not’ a New Yorker: neighbors.” The opening paragraphs of the story provide details:

Oscar Belgal, 28, is believed to have entered the US illegally around 2022, robbed someone at gunpoint in Fordham Heights a year later, allegedly sold dangerous drugs within months of his conviction in 2025 and was even allegedly connected to a violent street gang. None of that stopped Mayor Zohran Mamdani from referring to Belgal as “a New Yorker” . . . .

The Post followed up with a further story that has appeared online just this evening (and not yet in the print edition). The headline is “‘Criminal illegal’ migrant shot by ICE terrorized NYC apartment building with machete: ‘Menace to society.’” Excerpt:

The illegal migrant shot by federal ICE agents in a chaotic Bronx showdown terrorized his former neighbors with a machete—and a terrified resident said Saturday he’s relieved the accused gangbanger has finally been taken off the streets. Dominican Republic-native Oscar Belgal, 28, who authorities said has ties to the bloodthirsty Trinitarios street gang, wreaked havoc at the Washington Heights apartment building where he lived until about a year ago, according to a one-time neighbor. “He’s a menace to society,” the shaken resident said of Belgal.

Meanwhile, over at the New York Times, they have an article that appeared this morning with the headline “What We Know About the Man Shot by ICE.” Here’s how it starts:

Oscar Belgal often repaired friends’ cars as he listened to reggaeton and hip-hop on Marble Hill Avenue, a bustling street on the border of Manhattan and the Bronx. He was there early Sunday morning when Carlos Veloz, a taxi driver who lives in the neighborhood, saw him as Mr. Veloz returned home from work. Mr. Belgal was leaning over the engine of an S.U.V. with its hood open as dawn broke on a cloudy day, and nodded hello at Mr. Veloz. “He was fine,” Mr. Veloz said, adding that Mr. Belgal never caused problems.

Just a friendly neighborhood guy. In the ninth paragraph of the article, they have this quote from the Bronx Defenders, who are representing Belgal in the matter:

“A family just trying to go about their everyday lives faced terror and violence at the hands of ICE in Marble Hill,” they said, adding, “ICE’s brutality is emblematic of what the people we represent endure daily — from violent arrests in our communities to neglect and dehumanization in ICE detention.”

And then we have this in the 13th and 14th paragraphs:

Arianna Montero, the mother of Mr. Belgal’s 5-year-old son, said the child had been “traumatized” by the shooting and has not spoken since it happened.

“He’s having nightmares,” Ms. Montero said in a brief phone call in Spanish on Friday. “He went through something he shouldn’t have gone through.”

To be fair to the Times, if you should make it to the 15th (and subsequent) paragraphs, you will find this:

Mr. Belgal’s criminal record showed a string of arrests for drug dealing and larceny. . . . In February 2025, according to court records, he sold cocaine, fentanyl and crack cocaine to an undercover detective on Wadsworth Avenue in the Fort George neighborhood of Manhattan. . . . The case remains open. In 2023, Mr. Belgal was arrested and charged with robbery. He later pleaded guilty to grand larceny and received five years of probation. . . .

As to the circumstances of the shooting on Thursday, the Post’s piece from this evening has the following details:

ICE demanded local authorities hand him over after the 2025 arrest, but the request was not honored because of New York’s sanctuary laws. Agents first tried to arrest Belgal in September  but he evaded capture, according to the Department of Homeland Security. . . . [A] neighbor, . . . claimed Belgal dodged ICE by scrambling down one of the building’s two fire escapes.

That’s rather a stark contrast to Mayor Mamdani’s characterization of “ICE agents terrorizing our communities.” Without New York’s “sancturary” laws, this guy would have been handed over peacefully between law enforcement agencies without any need for a dangerous ICE effort to capture him on the street. Here are the immediate circumstances of the attempted arrest and shooting, according to the Post, quoting Marcos Charles of ICE:

Marcos Charles, the head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, said Belgal “accelerated” at the agents, “smashing” into two of them. . . . Agents caught up with Belgal about half a block away on Marble Hill Ave outside the C&G Gourmet Deli before bullets rang and he was shot in the neck.

If one reads the Post, it is very difficult to understand how protesters could possibly get worked up to support an obvious thug like Belgal. But then you look at the Times, and it’s an entirely different world. In today’s polarized media world, where big tech new feeds serve up only the news one wants to hear, somehow Oscar Belgal becomes a cause that many want to support.