Federal Agents Arrest Man Accused Of Vehicle Attack — Man Claims DHS Shot First!
The Northern California man shot by ICE officers has been charged with assault on a federal officer. The Department of Justice says Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was taken into custody yesterday.
On April 7th, Homeland Security agents were trying to conduct a targeted traffic stop and basically defensive shots were fired right here and the man veered off and eventually did end up having to go to the hospital.
So while that man was at the hospital, basically his lawyer had this to say:
“He was shot at before he moved the car.”
“But a second.”
So the story is the reason why he drove away was because he was shot at before he drove away and he felt like his life was in danger, thus tried to drive away, was injured, ended up in the hospital.
But once he was released from the hospital, he was arrested by the FBI and now we officially have criminal charges.
So, we have a lot to go through in this video.
We still have a lot of contested points within this story. For example, ICE is claiming the man is an 18th Street gang member. However, the illegal immigrant is saying that never happened. “I was never a part of a gang. I’m not currently in a gang.”
So, let’s start with this first. Let’s go through this new update where now he has officially been arrested by the FBI outside of the hospital.
“The Northern California man shot by ICE officers has been charged with assault on a federal officer. The Department of Justice says Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was taken into custody yesterday. He was shot multiple times last Tuesday off I-5 in Patterson.
Today, the Justice Department says federal officers stopped Mendoza Hernandez because he’s not in the country legally. Last week, ICE claimed he was a gang member wanted for questioning in connection with a murder in El Salvador. Mendoza Hernandez’s lawyer says his client was not in a gang and was acquitted of that murder back in 2019.”
So this is very crucial as far as the details are concerned. We do not have any response from ICE as to whether or not any of this is true.
All we have is the initial statement from Todd Lyons himself, the director of ICE, saying this man you see on the screen, he is a gang member and was connected to some sort of murder in El Salvador.
And like you see on the screen, the attorney is saying no, none of this is true.
So keep that in mind. We still don’t have a response from Homeland Security ICE.
But here’s the thing. Does any of this matter?
If Homeland Security ICE got all of their information wrong, does that matter because this man is in the country illegally?
We’ll get to that later.
“Here’s some dash cam video showing the traffic stop last Tuesday on Sperry Avenue near I-5. The vehicle is seen driving in reverse and then moving forward with agents in front of the vehicle and then turning to the left over the median into oncoming traffic. You see the driver go forward before going over the center median before coming to a stop.”
Okay. And then from there, he ended up in the hospital and ICE never detained him at the hospital while the DOJ was simply monitoring him.
From there, the attorney did not really know what was going to happen, but eventually FBI did end up arresting the individual, and we do have charges.
I also want to point out the FBI was in charge of this entire investigation. So, they might have more information that is being posted on the internet right now publicly. Keep that in mind.
This is all we have as far as what the details are of the case and the charges. But if you guys want to do your own research, this will be United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California.
And like this says:
“Illegal alien from El Salvador charged with assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon.”
Carlos Hernandez, 36, a national of El Salvador residing in Stanislaus County, with assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon.
According to court documents, on April 7th, 2026, at approximately 6:50 a.m., four federal law enforcement officers conducted an operation in the city of Patterson, California to locate and arrest Mendoza Hernandez because he is illegally present in the United States.
Officers stopped Mendoza Hernandez near an on-ramp to Interstate 5 by activating their emergency lights. Mendoza Hernandez pulled over on the right shoulder.
So, right off the bat, you guys might start to notice there’s not going to be any mention of gang activity or wanted for murder.
And the only reason why I’m bringing that up is because this is one of the most contested parts of this entire story from the opposition, from the defense. They’re saying he’s not a gang member, no connection to murder.
But again, the big question is, does any of that matter if you are in the country illegally and the federal government is saying you tried to use your vehicle as a weapon?
During the stop, Mendoza Hernandez identified himself and an agent informed Mendoza Hernandez that he was being detained and instructed him to step out of the vehicle. Despite repeated request, Mendoza Hernandez kept his car running and did not comply with agents’ request.
Mendoza Hernandez eventually drove forward and hit an agent with his vehicle. Mendoza Hernandez then quickly shifted the vehicle in reverse and abruptly accelerated in a rapid backward motion.
While in reverse, Mendoza Hernandez violently collided with the front of the law enforcement vehicle parked behind Mendoza Hernandez.
And you’ll notice here another contested point as to whether or not federal agents fired first. According to the attorney, he is reporting that Mendoza is saying they fired first.
After striking the front of the agents’ vehicle, Mendoza Hernandez’s vehicle then directly faced two of the agents assisting in the stop. After a brief pause, Mendoza Hernandez accelerated forward toward the agents. One of the agents was in the direct path of Mendoza Hernandez’s vehicle and jumped out of the way to avoid being hit.
Mendoza Hernandez jumped the center median and drove the wrong way against traffic toward the freeway. He then crossed the median, stopping his car on the side of the road.
During this incident and in response to the vehicle’s movements, agents discharged their firearms at the vehicle. Mendoza Hernandez was hit several times.
Agents rendered medical aid at the scene and Mendoza Hernandez was transported to the hospital. After receiving medical treatment, Mendoza Hernandez was medically cleared and taken into FBI custody on Monday, April 13th, 2026.
You’ll notice there’s no mention of ICE, Homeland Security, in any of this after the event. This was all handled by the FBI.
So, now let’s get to the counterargument, what the attorney is arguing.
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Let’s get to the counterargument.
“And what the real concern here is, regardless of Carlos’s immigration status, at the moment a law enforcement stops you, they don’t know for sure who’s in the car. That stop could have been a US citizen with a mistaken identity who decided to exercise their rights and not leave the car. We don’t know. And that could have been any one of us.
You know, there are everyone from every political spectrum. There’s times where you don’t want to cooperate with law enforcement.”
Okay, so this is the reason why I brought up does your immigration status matter? Does it matter if you were possibly connected to a murder in El Salvador?
I’m not the one who’s bringing this up. This is actually the attorney who’s making this counterpoint that, hey, federal agents don’t know who’s in the vehicle. So, is it appropriate to act in this manner? And was it appropriate for Mendoza to act the way he did as well?
So you guys can leave your comments down below. I’m simply just trying to report this story, how it’s really being reported and how the narrative is going for one side of the story.
“You want to say, ‘Hey, do you have a warrant? Am I detained?’ You have that right. And so the reaction shouldn’t be shoot first, ask questions later.”
And it looks like they are holding to shoot first, ask questions later.
The only thing I can see where they might be getting this because federal agents did not report that they shot first, but they did report, “We did smash the window first.”
Maybe there can be some confusion or Mendoza—they are truly sticking to this story that agents shot first. Again, I have no idea. This is a little bit of questions here on my end.
And if you guys have some questions, again, leave yours down below.
Now, today’s appearance was an initial appearance to decide if he would receive bond or not. The federal judge actually decided to give him bond, a $50,000 bond, because they believed that he did not have a criminal history here in the US and he was not a flight risk, but federal prosecutors disagreed. So, they requested a stay.
“So, that essentially means another judge will now review this decision. So we’ll know in about 48 hours if Mendoza Hernandez will in fact receive bond. Live in downtown Sacramento, Cecil Hannibal, KC3 News.”
“All right.”
And again, we will also be paying attention to that because that is another big part of the story as to whether or not he will be receiving bond.
Here is some more pushback from the attorney:
“He’s undergone three surgeries and remains in the ICU.”
“And are there any visible injuries from his gunshots?”
“
