Los Angeles, California: ICE Agent Points Gun at North Hollywood Bystander on Video, Mayor Calls It Unacceptable

A federal immigration agent pointed a handgun inches from the face of a bystander who was walking two dogs in North Hollywood on Friday morning, and video of the moment has Los Angeles leaders demanding an investigation.

The encounter happened just before 8:30 a.m. on Friday, October 30, near Vineland Place and Otsego Street, by the Ivy Apartments. Damari Butler, a resident who recorded the scene from his balcony, said two masked men who appeared to be immigration agents tackled a pedestrian on the sidewalk without warning. "There was no asking what his name was, no ID, nothing," Butler told the Los Angeles Times. "They just grabbed him."

What the video shows

In the video obtained by the Times, a masked agent takes the pedestrian into custody while the man with the two dogs stands nearby. A second masked person in tactical gear marked "ICE Police" runs over and tells the dog walker to back up, aiming what witnesses said was a can of pepper spray at him.

As the agents carry the detained man away by his arms, one of them drops the canister. The bystander moves toward it and tosses it toward the street. Behind the agent confronting him, the other agent draws a handgun, walks toward the bystander, shoves him into nearby bushes with one arm and holds the gun inches from his face. The agent then steps back, reholsters the gun and returns to an SUV.

The bystander was not detained. An agent later sprayed him, and he ran down the street.

Butler said the moment left the neighborhood rattled. "It just shows you how powerless we are," he told the Times. "I thought that man was going to die."

The federal account

In a statement given to CBS LA on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said agents arrested Angel Luis Gonzalez Lobo, from Venezuela, during a targeted operation. The department said he had been issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge after failing to show up for his court date, and that he will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings and will receive due process.

The department also said the bystander was armed with pepper spray and created "a moment of chaos." The video and witnesses describe the canister differently: an agent dropped it during the arrest, and the bystander picked it up and threw it into the street.

City leaders respond

Mayor Karen Bass condemned the incident on Friday evening. "It is alarming to see the images and reports coming out of North Hollywood this morning," she said in a statement. "Every Angeleno deserves to feel safe in their own community." Bass called the agent's conduct "unacceptable" and said it "will not be tolerated in L.A." She said she was asking the California Attorney General's office to investigate any wrongdoing, and that she had referred the matter to the office of Representative Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat leading oversight of federal immigration enforcement.

Congresswoman Luz Rivas, who represents the area, called the video "horrifying." Councilwoman Nithya Raman said she was outraged and that Angelenos should not have to live in fear of going to work or taking their children to school.

The confrontation came one day after a federal judge barred immigration agents in Southern California from making stops based on racial stereotypes, finding that officials had stopped and detained people in the area because they appeared Latino.