Immigration agent fires gun after being hit by vehicle in New Jersey, police say

STAFFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A federal immigration agent was struck by a vehicle Monday in New Jersey and fired his gun while attempting to apprehend someone, police said.

The gunfire possibly struck the vehicle as it left the scene, Stafford Township police said in a written statement.

“The agent reportedly sustained unknown injuries,” police said, adding that it was unknown whether the motorist was hurt. “There is no reason to believe there is any concern for the public’s safety.”

An email seeking comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not immediately returned. Photos posted online showed a masked agent sitting on the ground, leaning against a vehicle bumper, before being placed on a stretcher.

The encounter occurred on Route 72 in Stafford Township's Manahawkin community, roughly 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) east of Philadelphia.

Payton Johnson, who witnessed it, said ICE agents approached a man in a van.

“They tell him to roll down his window, he’s inching forward, and you can tell it’s getting tense by his inching forward,” Johnson told WCAU-TV, adding that the driver “gunned it” and took off.

There is no universal training standard for law enforcement to shoot at a moving vehicle. But most police departments and federal guidance bar shooting unless the driver poses an imminent threat of deadly force beyond the car itself.

In Senatobia, Mississippi, a child died Sunday when a police officer responding to a shoplifting call at a Walmart fired at a moving vehicle. As police tried to stop the vehicle, the driver almost hit an officer, according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

An ICE agent in Minneapolis fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, in January. The government said the agent's safety was at risk, but video showed Good had turned the front wheels and was driving away from him after blocking a street with her SUV.