Off-duty ICE agent shot by father after being found sleeping on California family’s lawn

A California father shot an off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who allegedly assaulted him and his daughter after being found asleep on their front lawn early Friday.

David Gonzalez, 32, a federal agent from Texas assigned to ICE, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his stomach and remains in custody on felony assault charges, according to a Fresno Police Department news release.

The incident happened shortly before 3:30 a.m. Friday at a home in central Fresno, near East Dudley Avenue and North Broadway Street.

The man's daughter arrived home and found Gonzalez asleep on the front lawn of the home they share, according to police. She alerted her 72-year-old father, who went outside to wake the agent and tell him to leave.

Gonzalez appeared intoxicated and agitated when he woke up, police said. He allegedly assaulted the older man, leaving him with visible injuries.

The man's daughter tried to intervene to protect her father but was also allegedly attacked and knocked to the ground, according to authorities.

Fearing for their safety, the father fired a single shot at Gonzalez with a legally owned firearm, police said.

The woman's boyfriend, an off-duty police officer, arrived and handcuffed Gonzalez before Fresno officers responded to several 911 calls reporting a gunshot.

Gonzalez was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was listed in serious condition.

The father who fired the shot is not facing criminal charges, police said. Investigators cited evidence gathered at the scene, including his account that he feared for his and his daughter's safety.

Gonzalez faces charges including battery likely to cause great bodily injury, felony vandalism and battery.

The incident came a day after ICE agents shot a man in his car in New York City with his 5-year-old son sitting in the backseat, sparking waves of protests and prompting Mayor Zohran Mamdani to demand that President Donald Trump remove the agents from his city.

The shooting occurred at around 4 p.m. ET on Thursday in the Marble Hill neighborhood of the Bronx, the New York City Police Department wrote on X. The NYPD said it was not involved in the shooting.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to The Independent that ICE officers were conducting an operation at the time “to arrest a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic with a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, and multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession.”

In the unrelated California incident, Gonzalez was off duty and alone at the time he was discovered on the lawn. It has not been publicly revealed why he was in the neighborhood or why he was sleeping on the family's lawn.

“There was no confrontation between the Fresno Police Department and ICE officials. ICE officials have been in contact with the Fresno Police Department to initiate their personnel investigation,” Fresno PD said.

Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi condemned the violence and called on federal authorities to suspend ICE operations in the region.

"Enough is enough. We've endured days of fear-stricken enforcement that has now tilted into full-bore violence. I am calling on ICE to suspend its ongoing operations in the Central Valley,” he said, in part, in a statement.

The Fresno PD is continuing the investigation. Any potential witnesses who could share information or video footage that could help establish what happened are asked to contact the department at 559-621-7000 or Crime Stoppers at 498-STOP.