Federal authorities have launched an investigation into a dramatic shooting involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Ontario, California, marking the second such incident in the state within just over a week. The latest confrontation, which unfolded in the early morning hours of October 30, 2025, left a young man wounded and his family searching for answers, while advocates and lawmakers alike are demanding transparency and accountability from federal agencies.
According to Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE officers were conducting a vehicle stop around 6:30 a.m. on the 2800 block of Vineyard Avenue. During the operation, an unexpected development occurred: a vehicle not belonging to the officers’ intended target pulled up in front of them. Officers ordered the driver to leave, McLaughlin said, but as the driver began to pull away, the car abruptly stopped and then reversed directly at the officers without stopping. Fearing for his life, one ICE officer fired defensive shots at the vehicle. The driver then fled the scene, abandoning the car nearby.
McLaughlin characterized the incident as "another example of the threats our ICE officers are facing day in and day out as they risk their lives to enforce the law and arrest criminals." The Department of Homeland Security maintains that the use of force was a defensive response to a perceived immediate threat.
Family members later identified the wounded driver as Carlos Jimenez, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen. His relatives say Jimenez was on his way to work at a local food bank at the time of the shooting. In the chaos that followed, his wife drove him to the hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Later that day, authorities took Jimenez into custody and booked him at the West Valley Detention Center, according to his family.
The aftermath of the shooting was grimly evident in photos shared by the family, which showed blood staining the driver’s seat, center console, and steering wheel of Jimenez’s car. The passenger-side front window had been shattered in the exchange. Outside the mobile home where Jimenez lived with his wife, children, brother, and mother, a heavy law enforcement presence lingered as the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and Ontario police scoured the scene for evidence.
Brayan Jimenez, Carlos’s 20-year-old brother, recalled being awoken by his older brother after the incident. "He came into the house and said he’d been shot by ICE and to take him to the hospital," Brayan recounted. The family insists that Jimenez is not a confrontational person. "I don’t think he would do anything aggressive," said Francisco Jimenez, another brother. "He is always trying to help out his community. At the food bank where he works, he is always trying to see what they need and he goes and gets it. His No. 1 priority is his wife and kids. He’s not really political."
Richard Ermer, a neighbor who lives close to the scene, reported being awakened by the sound of two or three gunshots. He also heard tires screeching, though he couldn’t remember if that came before or after the shots rang out.
Javier Hernandez, executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, said volunteers arrived at the scene within ten minutes of the shooting. Hernandez voiced concern over the growing frequency and intensity of such confrontations. "When you have unmarked vehicles coming into Ontario, or any community, and you have men that are heavily armed, that are using weapons ... that causes a lot of fear in our community," he said. "That is the violence we are seeing from the federal government right now."
This incident is not isolated. Just nine days earlier, in South Los Angeles, ICE officers were involved in another shooting after boxing in a vehicle. In that case, a man named Carlitos Ricardo Parias was shot in the elbow after allegedly attempting to ram agents’ cars. A deputy marshal was also injured by what authorities described as a ricocheted bullet. According to authorities, Parias’s car was pinned in place when agents opened fire.
Similar confrontations have erupted beyond California as well. On October 29, a shooting involving ICE agents in Phoenix left a man hospitalized. Local media reported that officers fired their weapons after a driver, subject to a traffic stop, began speeding away and an officer feared for his life. In Chicago, two separate incidents between September and October saw ICE and Border Patrol officers firing into vehicles, one of them fatally. Back in August, federal agents shot into a car during an immigration stop in San Bernardino, California.
The Ontario Police Department clarified in a news release that while officers responded to a request for emergency assistance from Homeland Security following the shooting, they were not involved in the initial incident. Their role was to provide traffic control and security while federal authorities conducted their investigation. The FBI, for its part, confirmed that it was assisting in the investigation and had dispatched an evidence response team to the area.
The spate of recent shootings has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers. On Tuesday, Representative Norma Torres, who represents the area, criticized ICE for refusing to provide her office with information about the Ontario incident despite multiple requests. "There must be a full, transparent investigation with immediate updates," Torres stated. "As we’ve seen in numerous incidents over the past several months, statements from the Department cannot be taken at face value. Witness statements, body-camera footage, security footage, and all relevant information must be released so the public can judge for themselves what really happened. Accountability is not optional; it is demanded."
As debates swirl over the conduct and oversight of federal immigration enforcement, community advocates and local leaders are calling for greater transparency and a reevaluation of tactics. The fear and uncertainty generated by these incidents have left many residents on edge, particularly in immigrant communities already wary of law enforcement. Meanwhile, federal officials insist that their officers face real dangers in the line of duty and that split-second decisions are sometimes necessary to protect lives.
For now, the investigation into the Ontario shooting continues, with federal and local agencies combing through evidence and witness statements. The family of Carlos Jimenez, meanwhile, is left to grapple with the aftermath—hoping for answers, and for a future in which such violent encounters become far less common.
