A video spreading rapidly online shows masked ICE agents dragging a handcuffed man toward a vehicle outside the Ivy at NOHO apartments on Otsego Street in North Hollywood Friday morning, while in a separate moment captured on the same footage, an agent points a handgun directly in the face of a man who was simply walking his dogs on the sidewalk.
Three agents were seen lifting the handcuffed man by his arms and legs as he cried out in pain, according to ABC7. In a separate part of the video, an agent approaches a man on the sidewalk walking his dogs, points his gun in the man's face and pushes him into a bush, the station reported. The bystander appeared to be unarmed.
It remains unclear who the man taken into custody is or why he was detained, ABC7 reported. Immigration officials had not responded to the station's request for more information as of publication, and the Los Angeles Times, which also reported on the incident, identified it as occurring the morning of October 30.
A Neighbor's Fear
A neighbor named Nancy told the station she watched the encounter unfold and was shaken by what she saw. “I was scared for the man that was being dragged. I was scared for myself and my son,” she said, according to the same report. Her account captures the unease that has settled over the apartment complex following the incident.
The North Hollywood encounter is not an isolated image. In San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood on October 19, home security video captured three ICE agents cornering and questioning a man on 6th Street, during which a plainclothes officer drew a handgun while the man appeared unarmed, according to the San Francisco Standard. That interaction lasted about six minutes and ended with agents leading the man away in handcuffs, the outlet reported.
A Pattern of Firearms Pointed at Bystanders
Elsewhere in California, a plainclothes ICE agent pointed a gun at a female driver in Santa Ana after accusing her of following an operation, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported no shots were fired in that encounter. The Guardian separately reported that California police intervened in that incident, noting that DHS said the driver fled before local police arrived while video appeared to contradict that claim — a discrepancy the Guardian presented without resolving.
In Queens, New York, sources identified an armed individual inside a vehicle as an ICE agent who drew a handgun equipped with a mounted flashlight and pointed it toward a man filming him in East Elmhurst on September 2, according to amNewYork. These episodes have added to a broader tally of gun-related confrontations between immigration agents and civilians across the country this year.
Shootings and Use-of-Force Numbers
The Trace has identified 32 incidents in which immigration agents shot at people since President Trump's immigration operations began, along with 51 incidents in which agents held bystanders, protesters or others at gunpoint under questionable circumstances, according to the outlet's tracker. Those shooting incidents resulted in nine deaths and 15 injuries, the organization reported, and it separately documented 20 incidents in which agents fired less-lethal munitions at suspects or members of the public.
Some of those cases involved serious injury. In October, Border Patrol agent gunfire struck Chicago teaching assistant Marimar Martinez five times after an agent aimed an assault rifle at her vehicle, per the same tracker. On July 8, an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during an attempted traffic-stop arrest in Houston, the tracker noted. And on October 8, a federal immigration officer shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in the neck while he was driving with a 5-year-old boy in Marble Hill, Manhattan, according to PBS NewsHour; Belgal survived and was treated at a hospital, while the child was unharmed, the outlet reported. PBS NewsHour also reported that ICE agents have fired their guns during more than a dozen vehicle stops since last year, killing at least four people and wounding others.
Government figures add another layer to the picture, though some should be read with caution. The most recent Department of Homeland Security report cited by The Trace recorded five gun-related use-of-force incidents involving ICE agents in fiscal year 2023 and 18 involving Customs and Border Protection agents. A separate snippet from a Congressional Research Service document, flagged as a lower-confidence figure, indicated that the same FY2023 report found CBP law enforcement officers were involved in 472 use-of-force incidents overall and ICE officers in 78, according to Congress.gov.
Back in North Hollywood, the identity of the man ICE took into custody, the reason for his detention, and any response from immigration officials all remain outstanding questions. Eyewitness News said it had reached out to immigration officials for more information but had not heard back by the time of its report.
