Man shot by ICE agents during California traffic stop arrested by FBI after hospital release, lawyer says

By Lauren Mascarenhas, Danya Gainor, Taylor Galgano, CNN

(CNN) — A man who was shot by ICE agents during a traffic stop in Central California last week was arrested by the FBI upon release from the hospital Monday, according to his lawyer.

Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez’s lawyer has pushed back against claims by the Department of Homeland Security that he is a gang member wanted in El Salvador in connection with a murder, after initially saying his family believed it was likely a case of mistaken identity.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said last week that the ICE officers fired defensive shots after Mendoza Hernandez attempted to run an agent over, according to a statement from DHS.

Mendoza Hernandez’s attorney, Patrick Kolasinski, said the FBI had executed a warrant for his client’s arrest Monday, and that he was being transported to the Sacramento County jail to await charges, though the exact charges were not immediately known.

But hours after his client’s reported arrest, Kolasinski said it appeared he still had not been booked into the jail, and FBI officials were not answering questions about where he was being detained or what he had been charged with. Mendoza Hernandez’s fiancée said hospital staff told her Monday morning he was in no condition to be released from intensive care.

On Monday, the FBI referred CNN’s questions about the case to the US Attorney’s Office, which has yet to respond. CNN has also reached out to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

The case has been marked by uncertainty and conflicting narratives.

After meeting with him at the hospital last Thursday, Kolasinski explained why his client attempted to flee the traffic stop.

“He was trying to get away because he’d already been shot at, and he was just scared that he was going to die,” the attorney said in a news conference.

The early morning shooting happened near Interstate 5 in Patterson, about 90 miles south of Sacramento.

DHS identified Mendoza Hernandez as the person shot and said he is an undocumented immigrant who the department described as an “18th Street Gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder.”

But “from everything we can find, he was not” a gang member, Kolasinski said in a news conference Wednesday. Mendoza Hernandez, 36, is the father of a toddler and engaged to a US citizen and was on his way to work when he was shot, the lawyer said.

“Initially when I was asked, I said we thought it may have been a mistaken identity,” Kolasinski said in the news conference. “This morning, we received a little bit of information from El Salvador that he had had a criminal encounter in El Salvador where he had been accused of murder and he was acquitted.”

As a result, he said, “they cannot possibly have a warrant out for his arrest in (El) Salvador. That is a complete misstatement.”

Kolasinski said an attorney has been retained in El Salvador to investigate allegations that Mendoza Hernandez is wanted for questioning and “to verify finally, and clearly that there is no such order.”

Mendoza Hernandez’s fiancée, Cindy, was able to speak to him Wednesday evening for the first time in an “emotional conversation,” according to Kolasinski. She’s since been able to visit him in the hospital, she said.

Mendoza Hernandez has undergone three surgeries after being shot about six times, including in the face, according to Kolasinski.

Cindy previously said their daughter – who will turn 2 this summer – couldn’t sleep Tuesday night as her father remained hospitalized.

Mendoza Hernandez had previously been stopped by police for a broken windshield on Friday, Cindy said during a news conference Wednesday. She declined to give her last name for privacy reasons.

Four days later, he was on his way to the Bay Area, where he works doing labor and rehabilitation of buildings, when the federal agents pulled him over, Kolasinski said.

ICE says its agents were following training protocols. However, Kolasinski said, “If that’s the case, then ICE’s own training puts their officers in danger, puts the community in danger and the people they’re trying to detain in danger.”

Two dashcam videos obtained by CNN show a car crossing over the highway lane divider after being surrounded by agents. One agent is seen running out of the way of the car. It’s not clear exactly when agents fired at the vehicle because the footage does not have sound.

“As officers approached the car, the wanted gang member weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run an officer over. Following their training, our officers fired defensive shots to protect themselves, their fellow agents, and the public,” the DHS statement said.

DHS says its agents have been the target of increasing violence, citing more than 180 vehicle attacks since Trump’s second term started. But the administration’s initial accounts of shootings involving federal agents have, in some cases, changed over time – or been proven wrong altogether.

The FBI said it is leading the investigation. The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office told CNN its agency is assisting, and confirmed no local law enforcement was involved with the incident.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged federal law enforcement to collaborate with state and local partners in investigating the shooting.

“As is established practice, we expect our federal law enforcement partners to appropriately collaborate with state and local law enforcement as this matter is investigated,” Newsom’s office said on X.

Dashcam footage captures incident

At least three law enforcement agents are seen surrounding a black vehicle on a road near Interstate 5, video obtained by CNN shows. The black vehicle then backs up and its passenger-side door hits another car on the road.

Agents are seen pointing their guns at the vehicle as it stops for about two seconds. The car then moves forward and veers left while a federal agent runs out of the way, and it ambles over the highway lane divider. Two hubcaps can be seen bouncing off the tires and rolling away as the vehicle crosses the oncoming lanes. The video ends before the car comes to a complete stop.

A witness, whose Tesla captured one of the videos obtained by CNN, said she noticed the flashing lights from her car.

“All of a sudden I heard like a shot fired … and then maybe like 10 seconds later, I heard about five or six more go off,” said Christina, who doesn’t want her last name shared for privacy reasons.

On Tuesday, Christina told CNN that she believed the first gunshot happened after the car reversed.

But in a news conference on Saturday, Christina said she now believes the first gunshot happened before the car reversed.

She explained that she didn’t think to slow the video down at that point and that “a lot of stuff was going on.”

“She was so traumatized, she didn’t even want to look at the video and so she was basing it just on pure memory. She recalls the first shot at some point, but after now, you know, a few days going by and having the courage to actually look at the video, knowing she was going to be here, she actually forced herself to look at the video more carefully,” her attorney Roberto Serrato said at the news conference.

After the car started to move, that’s when she said she heard about five or six more shots.

It is unclear from the silent video when exactly agents fired at the vehicle. CNN cannot independently confirm Christina’s account of the gunfire.

When the shots started, Christina said she put her car in reverse. “I was scared because I was like, there’s nowhere for me to go,” she said.

Kolasinski said that when he met with Mendoza Hernandez in the hospital, he was “adamant” that agents fired at him before he moved his vehicle.

CNN has reached out to DHS for further comment on the incident and was referred back to the agency’s initial statement on the matter. CNN has also requested law enforcement body camera footage of the shooting.

Mendoza Hernandez’s attorney is still seeking videos and witness accounts of the incident.

Credibility of DHS accounts questioned in prior car-involved incidents

While agents have been subjected to violence since the start of Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration last year, DHS has also at times faced a crisis of credibility regarding claims it has made in the aftermath of some high-profile incidents. In arrests and use-of-force encounters across the country, versions provided by DHS of some events have been contradicted by eyewitness accounts and bystander video and challenged by independent judges.

Altercations in or around vehicles have been a feature of the administration’s immigration crackdown, including car crashes between federal agents and people who try to flee, traffic stops turned violent and alleged rammings involving pro-immigrant activists.

The phrase “weaponized his/her vehicle” has been repeated by officials including former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem when she described Renee Good, a Minneapolis mother, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent this year, prompting widespread outrage.

The Trump administration has also come under criticism for deporting migrants it alleges are gang members without providing evidence, such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The administration accused the wrongly deported Abrego Garcia of being an active member of MS-13 – a claim his lawyer and family deny. Abrego Garcia is currently fighting deportation in federal court.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Caroll Alvarado, Melissa Gray and Jada Furlow contributed to this report.