Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that immigration officers did not know there was a 5-year-old in the car when one of them shot the driver in an attempt to apprehend him during out a targeted operation in New York City.

“We wasn’t aware the child was in the car, I can tell you that,” Mullin said at a news conference Friday morning, suggesting that the driver, Oscar Belgal, had endangered the child.

“Oscar knew he had a child in his car,” Mullin continued. “Oscar chose to accelerate at a high rate of speed and ram two different vehicles as he was — as he appears to be going towards officers.”

Belgal was shot in the neck during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the Bronx, New York City, on Thursday. The shooting, which occurred in a largely residential area, has sparked a wave of criticism from local authorities, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called it an “outrage.”

Mullin told reporters on Friday that Belgal, whom he identified as an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was the target of an ongoing investigation and that Belgal had evaded arrest in September. Mullin said ICE officers — who were in plainclothes and driving unmarked vehicles, according to bystander video — identified themselves to Bergal and “gave lawful orders” as they approached the car.

According to Mullin, Belgal then “weaponized his vehicle” and accelerated toward the officers after striking two ICE vehicles, prompting the officers to open fire.

New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thursday that at least one ICE officer fired seven rounds during the encounter. New York City authorities have said that they believe the 5-year-old in the car was Belgal’s son, who is now in the care of a family member.

Belgal is currently in federal custody at a location outside of New York state, Mullin said. He declined to say where ICE had taken Belgal.

Belgal’s name is also spelled as Oscar Bergal in federal court filings in New York City.

MS NOW could not locate a record of an Oscar Belgal or Oscar Bergal in ICE’s online locator for detainees as of Saturday morning, although the system is known to have delays.

Mullin characterized Belgal as a “dangerous thug” and “a true threat to society,” who had fled during an attempted arrest in September. ICE officers “had taken all precautions to keep him from fleeing” again during the operation, Mullin said, and “because of his escalation, we had to use force.”

Mullin’s news conference appeared to come in response to the backlash to yet another shooting by ICE agents. Similar incidents in other states have set off protests and sweeping condemnation of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

The version of Thursday’s events offered by Mullins to reporters mirrored the department’s characterizations of previous ICE shootings, some of which were directly contradicted footage of those incidents.

Mullin said officers are pursuing “the worst of the worst,” echoing the administration’s repeated claim about its immigration operations. Federal data has shown that the majority of people arrested by ICE have no history of criminal charges, let alone a conviction.

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