US marshal and undocumented immigrant, a popular TikTok streamer, injured in shooting during ICE stop in Los Angeles

KCAL/KCBS via CNN Newsource

By Josh Campbell, Alex Stambaugh

Los Angeles (CNN) — A federal marshal and an undocumented immigrant were injured Tuesday after an agent opened fire during an immigration enforcement operation in Los Angeles, officials said.

Federal prosecutors allege a man, identified as Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a 44-year-old Mexican national living in South Los Angeles, rammed law enforcement vehicles in an attempt to dislodge his car during an immigration arrest.

He has been charged with assault on a federal officer, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. He is expected to appear in the US district court on Thursday in Los Angeles, officials said.

Parias, a popular TikTok streamer, has frequently documented ICE traffic stops and immigration enforcement operations around Los Angeles on his account, Richard LA, which had more than 133,000 followers as of Wednesday morning.

Parias was “shot in the elbow and one law enforcement officer was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet. Both are in hospital,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

The injured marshal, who was not named, was in stable condition, the US Marshals Central District of California said in a statement.

“Both Parias and the deputy marshal are expected to recover,” the US attorney’s office said.

Before the shooting, an administrative immigration arrest warrant had been issued for Parias and federal agents had set up surveillance on a block in South Los Angeles to monitor his movements, prosecutors said.

The agents saw Parias leave a home and drive away in a gray Toyota Camry, according to prosecutors.

When three law enforcement agents boxed in Parias’ car and ordered him to exit the vehicle, Parias “ignored those commands and drove the Camry both forward and back, hitting two of the law enforcement vehicles” before “accelerating aggressively” with the car, prosecutors said, citing an affidavit.

“All these factors, including the large amount of smoke produced by the spinning of the Camry’s tires, caused the agents on scene to fear that Parias would successfully dislodge the Camry … and injure them,” the US attorney’s office said.

Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI are investigating the incident, with assistance from several federal offices, including ICE, the US Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

“Fearing for the safety of the public and law enforcement, our officers followed their training and fired defensive shots,” DHS said in a statement.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price has voiced support for Parias, describing him in an Instagram post as “a pillar of our community, a fearless citizen journalist whose authentic storytelling has consistently uplifted the unheard voices of South-Central Los Angeles.”

His lawyer Carlos Jurado told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS the suspect recorded DHS activity outside his residence on Tuesday morning: “Somehow, in the process of him recording, he was impacted by a bullet in one of his extremities.”

“He’s a very pacifist man. He’s very calm. A lot of the police officers here know him. They know that he’s very respectful,” Jurado told KCAL/KCBS.

CNN has reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department for more information.

If convicted, Parias would face a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison, the US attorney’s office said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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