An off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was shot and arrested early Friday after police said he assaulted a 72-year-old man and the man’s daughter outside their home in central Fresno.
The Fresno Police Department identified the agent as David Gonzalez, 32, of Texas. He remains in custody on felony assault charges and was taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the midsection.
Fresno police received several 911 calls about a single gunshot at about 3:19 a.m. Officers found Mr. Gonzalez in handcuffs.
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According to police, a woman found Mr. Gonzalez sleeping on her front lawn, and her father went outside to send him away. Police said Mr. Gonzalez, who appeared intoxicated and agitated after being woken, assaulted the older man. When the daughter tried to intervene, police said, he attacked her too, and she went to the ground.
The father then produced a gun and fired one shot, police said. The woman’s boyfriend, an off-duty police officer, arrived and handcuffed Mr. Gonzalez.
The 72-year-old man is not facing charges. Police said he legally possessed the firearm and feared for his own safety and his daughter’s. Authorities have not released the names of the man and his daughter, and police said their injuries were still being evaluated.
Investigators do not know why Mr. Gonzalez was in the neighborhood, KFSN reported. Police said he was off-duty and alone. Detectives are asking for additional witnesses or video.
Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi called on ICE to suspend its operations in the Central Valley. In a statement, he said, “Enough is enough. We’ve endured days of fear-stricken enforcement that has now tilted into full-bore violence.”
Councilmember Miguel Arias also criticized ICE operations in a social media post, calling the agents’ presence in neighborhoods where residents have felt fear and intimidation “a recipe for disaster,” KMPH reported.
A neighbor, Frederick Mark Lisitsa, told KMPH that police told him Mr. Gonzalez pushed the daughter into his parked car, leaving several dents. Police have not publicly confirmed that detail.
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