Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and seriously injured Carlos Jimenez, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, on Thursday. He was released from the West Valley Detention Center on bond yesterday. His court hearing had been scheduled for 2 p.m. yesterday, but was pushed until around 6:30 p.m. He is being charged with “assault on a peace officer,” according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Jimenez’s attorneys Cynthia Santiago of Abogada Santiago and Robert Simon of The Justice Team Law Firm.
Jimenez saw federal immigration agents surrounding a car on Vineyard Avenue on his way to work Thursday morning, according to his attorneys,
“He was just telling these officers ‘hey, there’s a bunch of kids about to be across the street, cuz they’re going to school,’” said Simon.
The school bus stop was in the area where the agents were blocking the road, according to Santiago.
“He was just thinking about the kids and the community that he knows,” said Santiago.
Kids were going to start to head to the area where federal agents were parked in about 10 minutes, explained Santiago.
“Once he drove away from that area because of the threats–the gun being pulled on him–he heard the gun shot,” said Santiago.
Jimenez was shot with at least one bullet through the back passenger window, and it pierced through his right shoulder and lodged itself in his flesh.
This all happens within a matter of a minute or two. He had just said goodbye to his partner–this happened down the street from his home.
“That’s when he reached his home to tell his family he had been shot. His wife took him to the hospital. He was not fleeing. He called 911 on his way to the hospital to seek assistance, and then when they reached the hospital, they were detained by Ontario PD,” said Santiago.
“You have people there that are there in his community, that come out guns blazing, with pepper spray, ask questions second,” said Simon.
What would be helpful in this case, and other similar to it would be livestreaming body camera videos that could be released immediately, similar to what a Chicago judge ordered federal immigration agents to wear, said Simon.
L.A. TACO initially reported at least three individuals were detained by federal immigration agents that day.
According to court documents reviewed by Jimenez’s lawyers, there were three people in the vehicle stopped by federal immigration agents— in the documents they reviewed, federal agents did not have a warrant for those individuals and there was no probable cause listed. It appears they were detained in a roving patrol.
Jimenez' lawyers are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying those three individuals as they are witnesses to the shooting of Jimenez.
Jimenez’ partner was temporarily detained when they arrived at the hospital by the Ontario Police Department until the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Homeland Security Investigation agents arrived, according to Jimenez' attorneys.
FBI and HSI agents questioned Jimenez partner for a few hours, she was never arrested, her phone was confiscated during this time, according to Santiago.
Initially, Jimenez was taken to the Kaiser hospital and then to a trauma center.
He was discharged from the hospital into federal custody with a bullet still in his shoulder and was detained in the West Valley Detention Center.
“They handcuffed him while he still had a bullet in his shoulder,” said Simon, “Was bleeding, needed medical attention, detained him, and essentially just had ibuprofen rather than the medication that he needed. That is his current state that he got released from the detention center.”
He was given an upper bunk bed in the detention facility. His bunk mate saw he was injured and graciously traded bunks with him so he could have the lower bunk.
His lawyers have been imploring the Attorney General's Office and the Ontario Police Department to investigate the case and release body camera footage due to the fact that Jimenez still has “evidence” related to the case in his shoulder.
In a statement to L.A. TACO Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that Jimenez sustained a “non-life-threatening gunshot wound.”
Jimenez is the most recent example of an individual shot at by federal immigration agents and is the third instance this year in the state of California. Ricardo Parias was shot by federal immigration agents in Los Angeles on October 21. Francisco Longoria was shot at by federal immigration agents in San Bernardino in August. A man was shot by ICE agents in Phoenix on October 29.
This shooting follows the recent comments by Stephen Miller that federal immigration agents have federal immunity in the conduct of their duties.
“As the driver began to pull away, the car stopped and attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping. An ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle. The subject fled the scene and abandoned his vehicle,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to L.A. TACO.
The statement further noted, “Jimenez, a U.S. citizen, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound when the officer was forced to defend himself from the suspect's vehicle. Jimenez was discharged from Riverside Community Hospital following treatment for the injury. He was subsequently arrested by HSI and booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. He is being held pending charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding.”
Jimenez works at a food pantry feeding the unhoused and other vulnerable communities. He is a father to three children. His family is requesting funds to help with his medical bills at their GoFundMe page. The first GoFundMe account was removed by GoFundMe due to a report that they were soliciting funds for a crime.
Jimenez’ next court date is scheduled for November 25.
