ICE Shooting Victim Not a Gang Member, Lawyer Says

Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was on his way to a job rehabbing fire-damaged homes in the Bay Area Tuesday morning when ICE agents stopped his black hatchback near an I-5 onramp in Patterson, California, south of Tracy. By 6:30 a.m., he had been shot.

His attorney, Patrick Kolasinski, stood before cameras Wednesday with Hernandez’s fiancee Cindy at his side and delivered a pointed rebuttal to the federal agency’s account of events. ICE had claimed it was targeting Hernandez because he is a member of the Los Angeles-based 18th Street Gang, also known as Barrio 18, and because he was wanted for questioning in connection with a murder in El Salvador. Kolasinski said both claims were wrong.

“He cannot possibly have a warrant out for his arrest in El Salvador,” Kolasinski said at the news briefing. “That is a complete misstatement. And even if that wasn’t the case, that wouldn’t be an excuse to shoot somebody in the situation that he was in.”

Kolasinski produced a document showing that Hernandez was acquitted in 2019 of the El Salvador case ICE appeared to be referencing. He described his client as a family man and day laborer engaged to a California woman. The couple has a small child together.

Dashcam footage captured by a nearby vehicle shows the moment ICE agents performed what the agency called a targeted traffic stop. In the video, Hernandez appears to attempt to flee, and an ICE officer opens fire into the driver’s side window of the car. ICE contends Hernandez “weaponized” his vehicle and threatened the life of an agent. The footage does not clearly show the car moving directly toward the armed officer. Instead, it shows a man trying to get away.

The scene drew immediate comparisons to a recent ICE shooting in Minneapolis, where similar claims were made about a vehicle being used as a weapon.

Kolasinski initially told media the incident was a case of mistaken identity. He later said that according to Cindy, Hernandez was pulled over last Friday by Turlock police and aggressively questioned about a cracked windshield. Officers took down his information. That stop may have set the Tuesday shooting in motion, though Kolasinski acknowledged there is currently no evidence that Turlock police directly contacted ICE.

As of Wednesday, Hernandez’s family had not been allowed into the hospital to see him. Kolasinski said he had not been able to speak with his client either. His condition remains unknown.

ICE issued an official statement Wednesday continuing to insist that Hernandez was “wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder.” The agency did not clarify whether this referred to the 2019 case in which Hernandez was acquitted, or an entirely separate matter. That ambiguity left significant questions unanswered.

Hernandez holds dual citizenship in Mexico and El Salvador. ICE says he entered the United States illegally in 2019. Kolasinski said he does not currently know his client’s immigration status.

What this case illustrates, beyond the specific facts, is the speed at which federal enforcement actions can unfold and the difficulty of correcting the record afterward. ICE’s public framing moves fast. Press releases go out. The “gang member” and “murder warrant” labels attach. And by the time an attorney stands at a podium with an acquittal document in hand, the narrative has already done its work.

Hernandez was heading to a job. His fiancee is a U.S. citizen. They have a child. His lawyer says he was a man building something, not running from something. Now he’s in a hospital with unknown injuries, his family waiting outside, and a federal agency still standing by a characterization his attorney says the evidence does not support.

Patterson sits in the Central Valley, one of California’s working-class corridors where day laborers move through early mornings headed toward construction sites and renovation jobs across the region. It is not a place that typically generates national headlines. This week, it did.