Fiancée, Attorney Rebut ICE Claims After California Man Shot During Stop

Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was on his way to work rehabilitating fire-damaged buildings when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stopped his vehicle near Interstate 5 at Sperry Avenue in Patterson, California, on April 7. He was shot more than half a dozen times. By Thursday, the 36-year-old had undergone three surgeries at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto.

His attorney, Patrick Kolasinski, and fiancée Cindy, a U.S. citizen who asked that media withhold her last name over safety concerns, held a news conference in Modesto on April 8 to directly challenge two central claims made by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons: that Mendoza Hernandez was an active 18th Street Gang member wanted in El Salvador in connection with a murder, and that he "weaponized his vehicle" by trying to run over an agent.

Kolasinski presented a court document from the government of El Salvador showing that Mendoza Hernandez was arrested in connection with a homicide case but was acquitted in October 2019, the same year he came to the United States. The document contains no mention of gang membership or gang activity. "The arrest may have been connected to it, but he was not in it, which is why we think he was the only person who was acquitted," Kolasinski said, suggesting the acquittal set Mendoza Hernandez apart from others charged in the case.

Kolasinski said his client, a dual citizen of El Salvador and Mexico who has lived in Patterson since 2019, had no criminal record in the United States and no outstanding arrest warrants at the time of the shooting. He described ICE as having "got bad information" and said agents may have mistakenly targeted Mendoza Hernandez.

On the vehicle incident itself, Kolasinski offered a sharply different sequence of events from DHS's account. "He fled in a panic because he was being fired on," the attorney said. "He was not trying to hurt anyone ... he was just scared he was going to die." Kolasinski said agents opened fire while the car was still stopped and that his client only drove away to escape the gunfire.

Dashcam footage obtained by KCRA-TV and KTVU FOX 2 shows three ICE officers standing around a vehicle on the side of the road. One officer appears to be touching the driver-side window when the car begins to back up and strike a vehicle behind it. At least two agents have weapons drawn and pointed at the car. The driver then pulls forward toward where the officers are standing.

Cindy said she first learned of the shooting from a member of the media, not from law enforcement. She was barred from seeing or speaking with Mendoza Hernandez until Wednesday evening, when Kolasinski described an "emotional conversation" conducted by phone, nearly two full days after the shooting. When she contacted a social worker to ask how many times her fiancé had been shot, she was told: "I cannot share that information."

After visiting him in person Thursday morning, Cindy told reporters: "I'm happy and grateful that it's not that worse. He's stable condition."

The couple has a daughter who will turn 2 this summer. Cindy said she believes they may have been flagged to ICE after being pulled over the previous Friday for a cracked windshield. "I understand they want to make this country better," she said, "but in reality, they are impacting families. I saw those cases before on the news. I always wished nothing happened to my family."

As of Thursday, Mendoza Hernandez was not under arrest or in ICE custody. Members of the FBI evidence response team were photographed gathering evidence at the Sperry Avenue scene. DHS, which has cited more than 180 vehicle attacks on federal immigration officers since the start of President Trump's second term as justification for agent use of force, had not responded to questions about the El Salvador court documents. Kolasinski said his client "has a long recovery ahead of him" but expressed hope Mendoza Hernandez could soon be moved out of the intensive care unit.