Oct. 21 (UPI) — A suspected undocumented immigrant and a U.S. marshal were both injured Tuesday morning during a traffic stop in Los Angeles.
Federal law enforcement agents opened fire after the immigrant allegedly “weaponized his vehicle and began ramming the law enforcement vehicle in an attempt to flee,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a post on X. The immigrant was struck in the elbow and the marshal shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet, McLaughlin. Both were taken to the hospital.
The official account did not provide details on what led up to the encounter or the immigrant targeted.
The incident follows a string of confrontational encounters as the Trump administration continues its plans to aggressively enforce the country’s immigration laws. It comes days after Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency over immigration raids.
The Los Angeles Daily News identified the suspect as Richard Parias Ramales, a popular social media personality who is known for posting videos in Spanish about law enforcement activities under the names Richard Noticias LA and Richard LA. Carlos Jurado, the attorney representing Parias Ramales, described his client as “beloved in the community because he reports a police activity within the community.”
The injured officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service told the Daily News.
Local TV station KABC captured an aerial view of the scene that showed a dark-colored sedan blocked in by several law enforcement vehicles.
The incident happened during an “enforcement traffic stop” where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and U.S. marshals pulled the immigrant over “in a standard law enforcement procedure,” according to McLaughlin, who did not provide details on what those operations entailed.
In declaring a state of emergency over immigration enforcement activity, Los Angeles County supervisors described how they had caused “widespread fear,” leading to “decreased attendance at workplaces, disruption of local economies, and strain on critical services such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship.”
McLaughlin, however, blamed Tuesday’s “incident on conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest.”
