San Bernardino police responded to what they described as “a shooting involving an officer” involving federal immigration agents on Saturday morning.
When police responded to the district of Acacia avenue and rue Basline shortly before 9 am, they met immigration agents who said they fired on a suspect who then fled the premises.
Shortly after, according to the San Bernardino police department, a man – who was not identified – contacted the Dispatch Center, saying that masked men had tried to shoot him, broke his car window and shot him. He said he didn’t know who they were and asked for police help.
In a statement on Saturday evening, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Security said that agents had carried out a targeted execution operation in San Bernardino and said that “customs protection and border protection) was injured during a vehicle stop when a subject refused to leave his vehicle and tried to pass them.”
“During the incident, the suspect led his car to the police and hit two CBP officers with his vehicle,” the statement said. For this reason, said the manager, a CBP officer released his firearm “in self-defense”.
According to a press release from the Inland Coalition for the justice of immigrants, the federal agents broke the driver’s windows and the vehicle passengers and pulled three times. Video The group downloaded on Facebook seemed to capture the interaction, showing agents carrying “police” vests and shouting inside to roll in the window.
“”No see shelter,“The man said from the inside, saying he was not going to open it.
Shortly after, the video captured the sound of the broken glass and what looked like three shots. The video showed a man wearing a hat with CBP on it.
The video seems to show that the vehicle leaves after the windows is broken, but does not capture the driver hitting the officers.
“It was an abuse of clear power,” said the Inland coalition for the justice of immigrants in its communication. “Putting on civilians, harassing families without cause and targeting the voices of the community must stop.”
According to the Police Department of San Bernardino, the police then located the vehicle in Bloc 1000 of Mount View Drive and contacted the man, but they said that he was not clear for which the federal agents wanted him.
“Under California Values Act, Californian law enforcement agencies is prohibited from helping federal officials in the application of immigration, our police officers therefore left the scene while the investigation was carried out by the federal authorities,” police said in a press release.
In a statement, a spokesman for the DHS poorly identified the police service, describing him as the Sherrardino County Sheriff department, and said local authorities had the man in detention but then released him.
“This decision was made despite the fact that the subject refused to comply with and injure two officers-another terrible example of the pro-cars’ policies in Action California who protect criminals instead of protecting communities,” said the unidentified spokesman.
At 1:12 p.m., the federal officials asked for help from the ministry because a large crowd was formed as she was trying to arrest the suspect, police said. At that time, federal agents told the police that he was wanted for allegedly assaulted a federal officer.
Police responded and supported crowd control, according to the department.
The Inland Coalition for the Justice of Immigrants declared in a press release that the agents did not have a mandate and did not stay outside the house until 3:45 pm, “Pressing the individual to go out.”
The group added that two members of the community “were arrested using unnecessary force, one of them to express themselves”.
“The federal agents asked for help during a legal arrest for having attacked a federal officer when a crowd has created a security problem for potential agents,” the police service said in a statement. “It was not an arrest linked to immigration, which would be prohibited by Californian law.”
Federal investigators are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting, police said.
