BREAKING: ICE-involved Shooting in Willowbrook, CA
Full transcript from initial ABC-7 video & summary of events
Location: 126th Street and Mona Boulevard, Compton/Willowbrook
Incident: Shooting involving federal agent during pursuit
Executive Summary
A Border Patrol/ICE operation in Willowbrook resulted in an incident involving shots fired and multiple detentions during the morning hours near a residential area with an active school nearby. Federal agents pursued a gray BMW through the neighborhood that ultimately crashed with front-end damage. According to witness reports, shots were fired during the incident, though it remains unclear whether gunfire originated from the vehicle occupants or federal agents. Three individuals were reportedly detained, though this has not been officially confirmed.
The operation drew a large multi-agency law enforcement response including Border Patrol/ICE agents in full tactical gear (helmets, masks, body armor, weapons), LA County Sheriff’s Department (arriving within 2 minutes from a station 0.5 miles away), and California Highway Patrol. Despite reports of shooting, no medical personnel, ambulances, or fire trucks were observed at the scene, and no injuries were visible.
The incident occurred in a neighborhood with a large immigrant population, approximately 300 yards from a school. Local residents expressed fear and alarm, with children walking to school past the crime scene tape. Community members immediately took to social media to warn families about the ICE presence. Witness Andrew, a local resident out for a morning run, described the heavy show of force as excessive and noted the community’s heightened anxiety about immigration enforcement, particularly given the proximity to schools and the number of families with immigrant parents in the area.
The scene remained active with crime scene tape blocking streets while parents were permitted to walk their children through the cordoned area to reach school. Sheriff’s deputies were observed attempting to de-escalate tensions with concerned residents questioning the federal presence in their neighborhood.
Opening (Studio Anchor)
Anchor: We begin with breaking news in Willowbrook. There has been a shooting involving a federal agent. Eyewitness News reporter David Gonzales just arrived at the scene, authorities are on scene and David is, so he can tell us what’s going on. David?
Reporter David Gonzales - Initial Report
David Gonzales: Hey, good morning, Philip. Yeah, the story is developing as we speak. I’m live here off 126th Street and Mona Boulevard in Compton. And right now, those are unconfirmed reports of a shooting that took place here in this neighborhood, but here off into the distance, you could see big scene right now involving federal agents and the Sheriff’s Office, LA County Sheriff’s Office, is on the scene right now talking to witnesses here on the scene right now.
We have reports that agents were chasing a car here on the scene. I don’t know if Brian, the photographer, could pull pan over to the car. This gray BMW that has front end damage. We’re hearing from agents, or excuse me, witnesses that this car was being chased by possible federal agents at crash and then the people in the car tried to run away. And that’s when something happened here on the scene. We hear that possibly those people have been detained.
But right now, I’m being joined by Andrew. Andrew lives in the area.
Interview with Andrew (Local Resident)
David: And Andrew, you said you were running, you were exercising this morning. What did you see this morning?
Andrew: I did just seen a vehicle too. Sheriff cars had came down southbound from Mona Park. And then eventually, I just seen the lights flickering. So I thought that they had pulled over the vehicle. But then as I come down, that’s what I had seen this whole commotion and then I seen the vehicle park. So I was just like, does that have to be ice? Because a lot of us have immigrant parents. So we’re just trying to be aware of our surroundings and stuff like that. So I was just trying to make sure that if it was to confirm it was ice, and yes, it was. So I was just trying to make sure I put it on social media. It’s just to keep aware of our families and stuff like that, but yeah, apparently.
David: So you see ice agents here. We see some of them are clearly marked with border patrol on their chest. They’re wearing masks. What are you hearing as to what took place? Have you heard anything specific as to what took place involving this car?
Andrew: The only thing was that they were involved in a high speed chase, but that they were chasing the vehicle and then they had shots fired. I don’t know if it was coming from the person from the vehicle or if it was ice agents shooting at the vehicle, but all the speculations of ice agents shooting people and stuff like that, so you know.
David: And seeing this in your neighborhood, obviously seeing federal agents. You mentioned this is a big immigrant population in this neighborhood. What goes through your mind?
Andrew: It’s just scary. We have a school that’s just not that few 300 yards away. So it’s like you got kids that are here, kids that are fearful for their parents to get taken away stuff like that. So it’s very alarming and stuff like that. So it’s very hard.
David: And then when it comes to reports of a shooting, what have you heard? Have you heard anything about a shooting? Did you hear anything?
Andrew: I didn’t hear anything specifically on my run, but the main thing was just that we just got to make sure that no shooting is involved because there are a lot of students and kids around this neighborhood.
Studio Anchor Question
Philip (Anchor): David, before our witness goes anywhere, you know, we’re seeing the federal agents, yes, but we’re also seeing the sheriff’s deputies. I’m kind of curious with his experience, how quickly were the sheriff’s deputies there after all of the shooting and the chase and everything that was going on? Because it seems like they were there pretty quickly.
Response Time Question
David: Right now, Philip wants is asking how fast did the sheriff’s get here? Obviously, this seems to involve federal agents, but how fast were LA County Sheriff’s involved? Were they involved? Were there the ones with the lights on that you saw?
Andrew: Yes. That was sheriff’s. So that was maybe in the media. The sheriff’s station is not that far. So it’s literally like maybe half a mile from here. So within two minutes from when I seen them, that’s when the lights have spewed on. So when I had seen them.
David: And then off to the left, we see two federal agents here with their vest on, their helmets on, their faces covered. We see the guns. What goes through your mind?
Andrew: We kind of just heard him getting out of the car behind us. I just feel like it’s what’s the necessary, like that? What’s the force that you need to do and get so many armored weapons to bring somebody in? It shouldn’t have the need to have you like have the on edge where you’re not to shoot somebody, you know?
David: And right now we heard that they possibly might be people detained. Have you heard anything about that? We heard obviously people try to run away from this car. Did you hear that anyone was detained? Or this is all speculation?
Andrew: So yeah, so it’s mostly what I just heard, but I heard three people were detained and they’re already in the vehicle that’s inside right there.
David: All right, thank you very much, Andrew. Well, we’ll get back to you in a second. Appreciate you, man.
Reporter Summary
David: But as you heard right there from Andrew, he said he was on his run and he spotted this kind of sheriff’s driving in the area with their lights on. So it caught his attention. And then when he got to the corner of 126 and Mona Boulevard, that’s where he saw this big scene involving federal agents here.
When we arrived on the scene, we could tell you that there’s a lot of people walking their kids to school. He mentioned there’s a school nearby. So we saw a cross guard as we made our way here stopping traffic for kids to cross the streets. And that I want to say is maybe three or four blocks from where we’re standing. We’ve seen parents walk their kids with permission from law enforcement through the actual crime scene that’s being blocked off by yellow tape.
So right now as you can tell people are trying to live their normal lives, but also trying to figure out and understand what exactly is taking place here. But all we can say right now is that some sort of a federal immigration raid or enforcement is taking place here in this neighborhood. Right now, according to witnesses, it involved a car that possibly was involved in some sort of chase that ended here a crash. We see front end damage to that car.
Unconfirmed reports of a shooting - we have not been able to confirm any of that here on the ground. And we also haven’t been able to confirm who was detained or if anyone was injured, Philip.
Medical Personnel Question
Philip (Anchor): Well, David, we’re going to stick with this here for a minute. So if Joseph’s bare with us. So we heard a lot about what Andrew saw. We’re looking at a lot of the images you’ve seen. So clearly this has been going on for a minute or two because they’ve got the crime scene tape up and everything. Have you seen or have you heard of anybody that saw medical personnel come by? I don’t see any first responders outside of law enforcement. So has anybody been hurt that you can see?
Final Report
David: And that’s one thing that I did notice when we started hearing reports of shooting is that I have not spotted first responders when it comes to an ambulance or fire trucks here on the scene. All we could see is Sheriff’s vehicles blocking the road. Brian, my photographer says he sees CHP also here on the scene and of course you see kind of these border patrol agents or federal agents in their tactical gear here blocking the road as well.
One thing I can tell you is that when we first arrived we did see a couple of people talking to Sheriff’s here on the scene and they were basically in an argument with them about why they’re here and the Sheriff’s Deputy was kind of trying to calm him down that they’re here kind of just blocking the road, kind of just trying to calm this situation, not trying to incite anyone or make anyone mad.
Obviously it’s developing story. So a lot of people are questioning what’s happening but I could tell you the traffic behind us is a neighborhood street here on Mona Boulevard and people are driving by, they’re slowing down and they’re asking, “Is it ice? What’s happening?” So of course the word is spreading that something is taking place in this neighborhood. And as you heard from Andrew just a few minutes ago he says that there’s a lot of immigrant families in this community. So of course people are living in fear based off what we’re seeing on TV and across the country and here locally as well.
Note: Transcription generated from original ABC-7 Eyewitness News video and may contain mistakes. View the video here.
Key Details
Law Enforcement Present:
Border Patrol / ICE agents (in tactical gear, masked, armed)
LA County Sheriff’s Department
California Highway Patrol (CHP)
Vehicle:
Gray BMW with front-end damage, crashed
Detentions:
3 people reportedly detained (unconfirmed)
Shooting:
Reports of shots fired (unconfirmed)
Unclear if shots came from vehicle occupants or federal agents
No visible injuries
No medical personnel or ambulances observed on scene
Location Details:
School approximately 300 yards away
Sheriff’s station approximately 0.5 miles away
Sheriff’s arrived within 2 minutes
Parents walking children to school through crime scene with permission
Community Impact:
Large immigrant population in area
Residents posting warnings on social media
Concerns about ICE/immigration enforcement
Children fearful about parents being taken