SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) — A federal agent fired shots during a targeted immigration enforcement operation in San Bernardino on Saturday morning, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Eyewitness News spoke with one of the men who was inside the vehicle that was shot at.
Martin says he was working with his father-in-law and 18-year-old son-in-law on Saturday morning when their vehicle was suddenly surrounded by unmarked cars and masked men.
"They hopped out with their pistols already drawn. Then they proceeded to ask us to lower the window and open the doors," Martin said.
Martin stressed that they asked, but the masked agents did not identify themselves. Martin and his family stayed in the locked car as agents insisted they come out. Video shows moments later, the agents shattered two windows.
"Once the glasses were shattered, my father-in-law feared for his life, from his perspective. And so he… I guess the car was already in drive, so he drove the vehicle away from where those agents were at," Martin said.
In the video, three gunshots can be heard.
"Thank God the bullets didn't go through the truck. They just went in, got stuck into the door, but they were aimed at my brother-in-law, who was in the passenger front. And so I was just glad he was OK," he said.
The family sought the help of San Bernardino police, who soon arrived at their home.
"So once they showed up, we made a report with them. They told us FBI was going to get in contact with us," he said.
The family says instead, it turned into an hours-long standoff with several federal agencies showing up at their home. They say an officer seen pulling out a weapon on video during the vehicle stop is the same person who fired the gunshots.
"He said that he didn't shoot… that those three shots were him tapping on the glass. But we have bullet holes inside of the vehicle now," Martin said.
The Department of Homeland Security says that during the vehicle stop, a subject refused to exit his vehicle and tried to run Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers down. DHS says he struck two officers with his vehicle, and that one officer had to discharge his firearm in self-defense.
The video reviewed by Eyewitness News does not show the driver trying to run the officers down. The agency did not answer our questions about why the driver was stopped or whether the agents had an administrative or judicial warrant.
Further details about the extent of the CBP officers' injuries were not immediately released.
DHS released the following statement:
"During a targeted enforcement operation in San Bernardino, CBP officers were injured during a vehicle stop when a subject refused to exit his vehicle and tried to run them down.
In the course of the incident the suspect drove his car at the officers and struck two CBP officers with his vehicle. Because of the subjects forcing a CBP officer to discharge his firearm in self-defense. The subject escaped the scene.
After the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department located the subject at a residence and briefly had him in custody, he was set free. This decision was made despite the subject refusing to comply and wounding two officers – another terrible example of California's pro-sanctuary policies in action that shield criminals instead of protecting communities."
In light of months-long immigration raids, including some in which people have been injured or killed, community groups are calling for accountability.
"It seems there's a lot of impunity, and this might be one of the cases where we can bring forward to the courts and say, 'This is what's happening when you let loose an administration and an agency to just, basically, create their own rules,'" said Javier Hernandez, the Executive Director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.
San Bernardino police say officers responded to Acacia Avenue and Baseline Street at 8:51 a.m. following reports of shots being fired. At the scene, the officers spoke with federal agents, who said they were involved in an officer-involved shooting, and the subject fled the scene.
A short time later, police said the man who was shot at contacted their dispatch center, stating that masked men tried to pull him over, broke his car window and shot at him. The man said he didn't know who they were and wanted police assistance.
Officers located the man's vehicle in the 1000 block of Mt. View Drive and made contact with him. According to the department, it was unclear what he was wanted for.
Under the California Values Act, police are prohibited from assisting federal officials with immigration enforcement, so the San Bernardino officers left the scene.
Then, at 1:12 p.m., police said the federal officials requested help from the San Bernardino Police Department due to a large crowd forming as they attempted to arrest the man. This is when the department said it learned the man was wanted for assaulting a federal officer.
San Bernardino officers then responded back to the scene to assist with the crowd control.
"Under the California Values Act, local law enforcement may assist federal officials when officer or public safety is at risk. In this case, federal agents requested assistance during a lawful arrest for assaulting a federal officer when a crowd created a potential officer safety concern. This was not an immigration-related arrest, which would be prohibited under California law," the department said in a press release.

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