California prosecutors have filed felony assault charges against an off-duty Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent who was found sleeping outside a home in Fresno last week and was shot by the homeowner during a scuffle.
The agent, David Gonzalez III, 32, of McAllen, Texas, faces up to four years and eight months in prison if convicted of all charges, which include assault likely to produce great bodily injury, battery, elder abuse and vandalism, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday.
He pleaded not guilty in Fresno County Superior Court on Wednesday, and his bail was set at $37,000. It was not clear whether he had legal representation.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment.
Around 3 a.m. on Friday, the homeowner’s daughter found Mr. Gonzalez sleeping on the front lawn of the house in the Towers District neighborhood near downtown, officials said. The homeowner, a 72-year-old man whose name was not released, went to wake Mr. Gonzalez, who the police said appeared “intoxicated and agitated.”
Mr. Gonzalez assaulted the man, who fell to the ground and suffered injuries, the district attorney’s office said. Mr. Gonzalez also grabbed the homeowner and threw him into the side of a neighbor’s car, leaving a dent in the vehicle, prosecutors said.
Mr. Gonzalez also assaulted the victim’s daughter when she tried to intervene, according to prosecutors. The homeowner then fired a single shot at Mr. Gonzalez with a legally owned gun, prosecutors said.
The daughter’s boyfriend, a police officer who was off duty, arrived soon after and put Mr. Gonzalez in handcuffs until the authorities arrived, according to the police.
The district attorney’s office has not charged the homeowner, saying that he shot Mr. Gonzalez “fearing for his safety and the safety of his daughter.”
Mr. Gonzalez spent the weekend in the hospital receiving treatment for his gunshot wound, the district attorney’s office said.
Several local elected officials said Mr. Gonzalez’s actions raised concerns about the conduct of ICE agents tasked with carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
It was unclear what Mr. Gonzalez was doing in Fresno last week. But the incident comes amid a reported surge in ICE activity in California’s Central Valley, which is home to many immigrant farmworkers.
Much of the community has been gripped by fear amid the reported surge, and a local city councilman has urged immigrants to avoid the Big Fresno Fair, the city’s flagship festival that runs through Sunday.
Fair officials put out a video over the weekend saying that ICE had not been seen conducting operations at the fairgrounds.
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