The following article was originally published on November 1. It was updated today, November 21, with newly acquired information.
On Tuesday, Carlos Jimenez, the U.S. Citizen shot by federal immigration agents in Ontario, California, was indicted by a grand jury on one charge of alleged assault on a federal officer using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
The government accuses Jimenez of assaulting the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent as she was carrying out her duties, using a car. Jimenez’ indictment means that a jury believes there is enough probable cause to formally charge him with a crime.
On the morning of October 30, Jimenez was on his way to work when he saw federal immigration agents had stopped an approaching car. He wanted to warn them that there was a school bus stop in the area that the agents were blocking, according to Attorney Cynthia Santiago and Robert Simon of The Justice Team Law Firm, both of whom represent Jimenez.
Jimenez saw federal immigration agents surrounding a car on Vineyard Avenue on his way to work that Thursday morning, according to his attorneys.
“He was just telling these officers ‘hey, there’s a bunch of kids about to be across the street, cuz they’re going to school,’” says Simon.
The school bus stop was in the area where the agents were blocking the road, according to Santiago. Jimenez was warning the agents that kids were about to start heading to the bus stop to go to school, according to Santiago.
“Once he drove away from that area because of the threats–the gun being pulled on him–he heard the gun shot,” says Santiago.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and injured Carlos Jimenez.
Jimenez was shot with at least one bullet, through the back passenger window, which pierced through his right shoulder and lodged itself in his flesh, according to his lawyers. As of November 10, Jimenez still has a bullet lodged in his shoulder.
This incident occurred down the street from his home.
“That’s when he reached his home to tell his family he had been shot. His wife took him to the hospital. He was not fleeing. He called 911 on his way to the hospital to seek assistance and then when they reached the hospital, they were detained by Ontario PD,” Santiago says.
At around 6:29 a.m., a Honda Accord was stopped on Vineyard Avenue by a deportation officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Enforcement and Removal Operations, and two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.
Those agents, described in the criminal complaint as the enforcement team, were conducting a planned enforcement operation in Ontario.
The complaint says that a Lexus RX350 pulled up on the driver's side of the Honda, next to an agent who was speaking with the people in the vehicle they had stopped. The government alleges that there was a “verbal altercation" between Jimenez, who was in the Lexus, and the agents.
The complaint says another agent approached Jimenez’ vehicle, with a firearm in hand and told him to leave. The agent “holstered” his firearm and grabbed his pepper spray, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that Jimenez pulled the Lexus forward and to the left, then away from the agents. He then allegedly stopped, turned the wheels, and accelerated in reverse towards the agent near the Honda. This is when the agent, who had initially holstered his firearm, shot Jimenez. The complaint alleges that they feared one of the agents would be hit by Jimenez.
Jimenez left the scene, checked himself into the hospital, and was released from the hospital, before being taken into HSI custody, according to the complaint.
He was released from the West Valley Detention Center on Friday, October 31, after his hearing was pushed until around 6:30 p.m.
“You have people there that are there in his community, that come out guns blazing, with pepper spray, ask questions second,” says Simon.
What would be helpful in this case, and other similar to it would be livestreaming body camera videos that could be released immediately, similar to what a Chicago judge ordered federal immigration agents to wear, says Simon.
L.A. TACO initially reported at least three individuals were detained by federal immigration agents that day.
According to court documents reviewed by Jimenez’s lawyers there were three people in the vehicle stopped by federal immigration agents. In the documents they reviewed, federal agents did not have a warrant for those individuals and there was no probable cause listed.
The criminal complaint states there were three individuals in the vehicle pulled over by the federal immigration agents.
Jimenez lawyers are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying those three individuals, as they are witnesses to the shooting of Jimenez.
Jimenez’s partner was temporarily detained, when they arrived at the hospital by the Ontario Police Department until the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Homeland Security Investigation agents arrived, according to Jimenez attorneys.
FBI and HSI agents questioned Jimenez’ wife for a few hours, she was never arrested, her phone was confiscated during this time, according to Santiago.
Initially Jimenez was taken to the Kaiser hospital, and then to a trauma center.
He was discharged from the hospital into federal custody with a bullet still in his shoulder, and was detained in the West Valley Detention Center.
“They handcuffed him while he still had a bullet in his shoulder,” said Simon, “Was bleeding, needed medical attention, detained him, and essentially just had ibuprofen rather than the medication that he needed. That is his current state has he got released from the detention center.”
He was given an upper bunk bed in the detention facility, his bunk mate saw he was injured and graciously traded bunks with him so he could have the lower bunk.
His lawyers have been imploring the Attorney General's office and the Ontario Police Department to investigate the case and release body camera footage–due to the fact that Jimenez still has “evidence” related to the case in his shoulder.
In a statement to L.A. TACO Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that Jimenez sustained a “non-life-threatening gunshot wound.”
Jimenez is the most recent example of an individual shot at by federal immigration agents. This is the third instance this year of this happening in the state of California. Ricardo Parias was shot by federal immigration agents in Los Angeles on October 21. Francisco Longoria was shot at by federal immigration agents in San Bernardino in August. A man was shot by ICE agents in Phoenix on October 29.
This shooting follows the recent comments by Stephen Miller that federal immigration agents have federal immunity in the conduct of their duties.
“As the driver began to pull away, the car stopped and attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping. An ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle. The subject fled the scene and abandoned his vehicle,” assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin says in a statement to L.A. TACO.
“Jimenez, a U.S. citizen, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound when the officer was forced to defend himself from the suspect's vehicle. Jimenez was discharged from Riverside Community Hospital following treatment for the injury. He was subsequently arrested by HSI and booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He is being held pending charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding.”
Jimenez works at a food pantry, feeding the unhoused and other vulnerable communities. He is a father to three children. His family is requesting funds to help with living expenses while he takes this time to heal. The first GoFundMe account was taken down because the organization said it was “Prohibited conduct, the legal defense of violent crimes." Everyone who donated was refunded.
