Ethical Hacking News
ICE Agent at NYC Shooting Has History of Alleged Violence and Illegal Arrests
ICE agent supervisor Brenden Cuni has a history of excessive force, unlawful arrests, and using force during arrests in New York and Minneapolis. Cuni has been accused of illegal ICE street arrests in New York and beyond, with several cases later found to be unlawful in federal court. A recent shooting incident in Manhattan's Marble Hill neighborhood left a 5-year-old child unharmed but hospitalized the suspect, Oscar Belgal. Cuni's actions have been criticized by activists, who have alleged that he is one of the agents seen forcing a pregnant woman to the ground during a Minneapolis operation. Federal judges have repeatedly found problems with Cuni's statements or arrest paperwork, ruling that his actions were unlawful and that the arrests were based on false information. Cuni's actions have raised concerns about the use of force and the treatment of immigrants by ICE agents, highlighting the need for greater transparency and oversight of ICE operations.
The recent shooting incident involving an ICE agent in Manhattan's Marble Hill neighborhood has once again brought to light the troubled history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, particularly one supervisor, Brenden Cuni, who has been accused of excessive force, unlawful arrests, and using force during arrests in New York and Minneapolis. A WIRED investigation reveals that Cuni, an ICE supervisor with the agency's National Fugitive Operations team, has a history of being at the center of illegal ICE street arrests in New York and beyond.
The shooting incident, which occurred on October 8, 2026, left a 5-year-old child unharmed but the man, identified as Oscar Belgal, was hospitalized after reportedly being shot in the neck. Footage from the scene shows Cuni, identified by court documents, social media posts, and publicly available personal information reviewed by WIRED, brandishing a modified AR-15-style rifle with a pistol grip, sling, and holographic sights. This was not the first time Cuni was involved in a high-profile incident; in December 2024, he was promoted to a supervisory detention and deportation officer.
Cuni's work history before his time with DHS remains unclear, with Felician University, a private Catholic university in New Jersey, listing him as a member of its 2018 baseball roster. However, Cuni lists his hometown as New Rochelle—a suburb just north of the Bronx. The New York Police Department reported that agents surrounded Belgal's car, in which the child was sitting, before firing multiple rounds, as many as seven, witnesses told local media. Belgal was shot in the neck, and the child appeared unharmed.
Cuni's history of alleged violence and illegal arrests dates back to his time with Customs and Border Protection as a Border Patrol agent in San Diego in 2018. He began his federal law enforcement career with Customs and Border Protection as a Border Patrol agent in San Diego in 2018 before becoming a deportation officer in 2020. In December 2024, he was promoted to a supervisory detention and deportation officer, and in May 2025, he joined the National Fugitive Operations team.
Several of Cuni's arrests were later found to be unlawful in federal court. A 21-year-old Bronx man claimed that during his arrest in October last year, Cuni tripped him hard enough to break a tooth, then shocked him with a Taser about six times while he was handcuffed on the ground, and later called him a "maldito Mexicano" —damned Mexican. Another man alleged that ICE agents tackled and shocked him with a Taser three times during an arrest in Queens. In a third case, in June, government lawyers withdrew what a federal judge described as “inaccurate, sworn representations” by Cuni and other officials, including a claim that a detained man had skipped his ICE check-ins.
Cuni's actions have been met with criticism from activists, who have alleged that he is one of the agents seen forcing a pregnant woman to the ground during a Minneapolis operation. In August, US District Judge Brian Cogan, also of New York's Eastern District, said doorbell footage "largely contradicts" Cuni's account of Fernando Fabian Chaglla's arrest. Video reviewed by WIRED shows Chaglla being handcuffed less than three minutes into the encounter. Cuni later said he had typed Chaglla's name and birth date into Mobile Fortify, an ICE face-recognition app; the search showed no record of lawful entry, but it did show a federal work permit. Cogan ruled that the arrest was unlawful.
Cuni did not immediately respond to WIRED's multiple requests for comment. An Instagram account apparently associated with Cuni, previously using the handle “shooter.cuni”—now “shooter.914,” seemingly reflecting the Westchester County, New York area code—contains scores of photographs and videos of Cuni with firearms at shooting ranges across the Northeast. Among the items depicted on the account are a mug that appears to be from ICE’s New York City Fugitive Operations team, a silver and black Rolex watch that closely matches one Cuni appears to be wearing in videos from the Marble Hill shooting, and an AR-15-style rifle with a pistol grip, short barrel, holoscopic sights, and olive-colored sling that appears to match the one he wielded at the shooting scene.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security claims that ICE agents were attempting to apprehend an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic with a prior conviction for grand larceny. However, a WIRED review of federal court cases, social media, and other public records suggests that Cuni has repeatedly been at the center of illegal ICE street arrests in New York and beyond. Court filings accuse him of using a Taser on a handcuffed man, while activists have alleged he is one of the agents seen forcing a pregnant woman to the ground during a Minneapolis operation.
In recent months, federal judges have repeatedly found problems with Cuni's statements or arrest paperwork. In one case, Judge Gary Brown of the Eastern District of New York found that Cuni searched five databases for a Bronx man and found nothing, then signed a warrant saying the searches had confirmed he was undocumented. ICE later added the man to those databases and searched again, creating the record Cuni had already said existed. Brown ruled the arrest and detention illegal, saying that Cuni had tried to “reconcile these falsehoods” after the fact.
In another case, a federal judge described Cuni's sworn statements as "inaccurate, fraudulent representations" that were withdrawn by the government in June. The judge ruled that Cuni's actions were unlawful, and that the arrest was based on false information.
Cuni's actions have raised concerns about the use of force and the treatment of immigrants by ICE agents. Critics argue that Cuni's actions demonstrate a lack of accountability and a disregard for the rule of law. The incident highlights the need for greater transparency and oversight of ICE operations, as well as the need for more robust training and accountability mechanisms to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/ICE-Agent-at-NYC-Shooting-Has-History-of-Alleged-Violence-and-Illegal-Arrests-ehn.shtml
https://www.wired.com/story/ice-agent-at-nyc-shooting-has-history-of-alleged-violence-and-illegal-arrests/
https://apnews.com/article/new-york-shooting-federal-agents-c0fd349ab75c176f15fc410df1d59814
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c59vzk9yypn3o
Published: Fri Oct 9 00:31:21 2026 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
