Federal agent fires shots at man during operation in San Bernardino, DHS says

A federal agent fired shots during a targeted immigration enforcement operation in San Bernardino on Saturday morning, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Eyewitness News spoke with one of the men who was inside the vehicle that was shot at.

Martin says he was working with his father-in-law and 18-year-old son-in-law on Saturday morning when their vehicle was suddenly surrounded by unmarked cars and masked men.

“They hopped out with their pistols already drawn. Then they proceeded to ask us to lower the window and open the doors,” Martin said.

Martin stressed that they asked, but the masked agents did not identify themselves. Martin and his family stayed in the locked car as agents insisted they come out. Video shows moments later, the agents shattered two windows.
“Once the glasses were shattered, my father-in-law feared for his life, from his perspective. And so he… I guess the car was already in drive, so he drove the vehicle away from where those agents were at,” Martin said.

In the video, three gunshots can be heard.

“Thank God the bullets didn’t go through the truck. They just went in, got stuck into the door, but they were aimed at my brother-in-law, who was in the passenger front. And so I was just glad he was OK,” he said.

The family sought the help of San Bernardino police, who soon arrived at their home.

“So once they showed up, we made a report with them. They told us FBI was going to get in contact with us,” he said.
The family says instead, it turned into an hours-long standoff with several federal agencies showing up at their home. They say an officer seen pulling out a weapon on video during the vehicle stop is the same person who fired the gunshots.

“He said that he didn’t shoot… that those three shots were him tapping on the glass. But we have bullet holes inside the vehicle now,” Martin said.

The Department of Homeland Security says that during the vehicle stop, a subject refused to exit his vehicle and tried to run Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers down. DHS says he struck two officers with his vehicle, and that one officer had to discharge his firearm in self-defense.

The video reviewed by Eyewitness News does not show the driver trying to run the officers down. The agency did not answer our questions about why the driver was stopped or whether the agents had an administrative or judicial warrant.

Further details about the extent of the CBP officers’ injuries were not immediately released.