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ICE agent shoots man in face who intervened during deportation fight in New York

NEW YORK — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot a man in the face who tried to intervene during a deportation arrest Thursday morning.

While ICE officers were trying to take Gasper Avendando-Hernandez into custody his girlfriend’s son, Eric Diaz, got into a fight with them, WABC reported.

One of the agents fired a gun, hitting Diaz, 26, in the face. He is expected to survive, WNBC reported.

The two ICE officers were also taken to a hospital for treatment, WNBC reported.

“He resisted because they didn’t show him no papers, like, ‘Oh I’m the police,’ no badge, no nothing, no warrant, no nothing,” Diaz’ brother, Kevin Yanez Cruz, told WABC. “They just tackled him, and that’s why he reacted the way he reacted. He didn’t say, ‘Get down,’ he didn’t say nothing. And he didn’t have nothing, my brother, he didn’t have no weapons in his hands, nothing. The minute they’re tackling him, they get up to the door step, I’m here, my brother is here, he thought I was going to get involved, and he pointed the gun at my brother, and didn’t even hesitate and pulled the trigger.”

Avendando-Hernandez was arrested Monday by the NYPD for possessing a forged instrument -- a fake Connecticut license plate. However, he was released before ICE agents could take him into custody, WABC reported.

"This forced ICE officers to locate him on the streets of New York rather than in the safe confines of a jail," ICE said in a statement.

Avendando-Hernandez is an illegal alien who has been removed from the country twice, ICE officials said. He was convicted of assault in 2011 in New York City. He had no arrests since 2016.