US Customs and Border Protection officers opened fire during a targeted immigration enforcement operation in San Bernadino, California, on Saturday, calling it an act of self-defense after a man “struck two CBP officers with his vehicle,” the Department of Homeland Security said.
But the family inside the vehicle said they drove away out of fear for their safety after masked men emerged from unmarked cars and surrounded their truck with weapons drawn before smashing the truck’s windows.
Martin, one of the three men in the vehicle, told CNN affiliate KABC he was working with his father-in-law and 18-year-old brother-in-law on Saturday morning when their vehicle was suddenly surrounded.
The agents did not identify themselves and the family stayed inside the locked car, said Martin, who KABC only identified by his first name.
Videos recorded from inside the family’s truck show at least three masked agents wearing tactical vests marked with “police” surrounding the car. At least one of the agents is wearing a hat marked “CBP.”
The agents are seen asking the men inside the truck to roll down the window, but the men refuse. The agents are then seen breaking two windows in the truck before the driver accelerates away.
It’s unclear why DHS was pursuing the men in the vehicle.
“Once the glasses were shattered, my father-in-law, fearing for his life from his perspective … he drove the vehicle away from where those agents were at,” Martin told KABC.
It is unclear in the videos when officers were struck by the vehicle. In its statement, DHS said two officers were injured. It did not specify the severity of the injuries.
As the truck drives away, three apparent gunshots can be heard in the videos and one video shows what seems to be bullet holes in the side of the truck.
Watch a different angle here:
“Thank God the bullets didn’t go through the truck. They just went in, got stuck into the door, but they were aimed at my brother-in-law, who was in the passenger front,” Martin told KABC.
Once home, the men called San Bernardino police to report the incident, Martin said.
At 9:30 a.m., about an hour after the vehicle stop, armed immigration and Homeland Security agents, along with San Bernardino police, surrounded the family’s home, according to the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. They remained at the scene until 3:45 p.m., despite never presenting a warrant, “pressuring the individual to come outside and placing the entire family in fear,” the organization said in a statement to CNN.
“This is a clear abuse of power. Firing at civilians, detaining families without cause, and silencing community voices is unacceptable and must end,” the organization said.
DHS said local police “located the subject at a residence and briefly had him in custody,” but “he was set free” and officers left the scene.
“This decision was made despite the subject refusing to comply and wounding two officers — another terrible example of California’s pro-sanctuary policies in action that shield criminals instead of protecting communities,” DHS said in a statement.
According to KABC, San Bernardino police cited the California Values Act, which prevents local law enforcement from helping federal officials with immigration enforcement actions.
Police told KABC they later returned to the scene after a request from federal officials due to a large crowd forming as federal officers attempted to arrest a man. The department said it learned the man, whose identity was not revealed, was wanted for assaulting a federal officer.
It’s unclear if the man was taken into custody.
CNN has reached out to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and San Bernardino Police Department for further information.
Video credit: Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice
CNN’s Norma Galeana and Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.
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