U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and wounded a man in central California while trying to arrest him Tuesday, federal authorities said.
The Department of Homeland Security said agents fired defensive shots at the suspect after he tried to run over one of the agents with his car.
DHS said the suspect, Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, is wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder. Attorney Patrick Kolasinski, who is representing Mendoza and his family, disputed that account and said authorities may have mistaken him for someone else with a similar name.
Mendoza was wounded and taken to a hospital, officials said. His family has not been allowed in to see him at the hospital but were told by a social worker that he is stable, Kolasinski said.
Kolasinski said his client works as a laborer, doing rehabilitation of fire damage. He has a 2-year-old daughter and is engaged to a U.S. citizen, he said.
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The shooting occurred in Patterson, a city about 74 miles (119.09 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.
Dashcam footage obtained by KCRA-TV shows three officers standing around a vehicle stopped on the side of a road. One of the officers appears to be touching the driver-side window of the car when the car begins to back up and turn, hitting a vehicle behind it. At least two of the agents have weapons drawn, pointing at the car. The driver then pulls forward toward where the men are standing and turns sharply, driving over the roadway median.
The video has no sound and its unclear when the shots were fired and if words were said.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said they were not involved in the encounter and the FBI is leading the investigation.
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