ICE agent threw California homeowner, 72, into side of a car, attacked his daughter, D.A. says

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An ICE officer is facing a slew of felony charges after allegedly assaulting a 72-year-old homeowner and the man’s daughter after they found him sleeping on their front lawn.

The Fresno County district attorney’s office announced Tuesday that David Gonzalez III was being charged with assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, elder abuse, vandalism and battery.

If convicted, Gonzalez faces up to four years and eight months in custody, according to the D.A.’s office.

Gonzalez, 32, is from McAllen, Texas. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not commented so far on why he was in Fresno. But the Central Valley has in recent weeks noticed an uptick in ICE arrests.

The incident took place around 3 a.m. Oct. 9, when the Fresno Police Department received several reports of a gunshot being fired near East Dudley Avenue and North Broadway Street in Fresno’s Tower District, an area billed as a nightlife destination. Officers arrived and found Gonzalez in handcuffs with a gunshot wound to his midsection, the department said in a statement last week.

According to their statement, an unnamed woman arrived home to find Gonzalez — an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — sleeping on her front lawn. The woman contacted her 72-year-old father, who came out of the house to remove Gonzalez.

Gonzalez woke up and appeared “intoxicated and agitated,” according to the statement. He allegedly attacked the homeowner.

“When the homeowner went outside to ask Gonzalez to leave, Gonzalez assaulted him, causing him to fall to the ground and sustain visible injuries,” the district attorney’s office said in a news release. Gonzalez allegedly threw the victim into a neighbor’s parked vehicle, according to the D.A., “causing significant damage to the side of the car.”

The woman tried to intervene as her father was being assaulted, and Gonzalez also allegedly attacked her, authorities said. Her father, fearing for the safety of himself and his daughter, took out a gun and fired one shot at Gonzalez, according to police.

The woman’s boyfriend, an off-duty police officer, was also there at the time and placed Gonzalez in handcuffs, police said

Gonzalez was off-duty and alone at the time of the incident, according to police.

The district attorney’s office said Gonzalez remained in the hospital, where he is in custody receiving medical treatment. The bail amount for the charges filed is $52,000. His arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday morning at Fresno County Superior Court.

Off-duty ICE agent found sleeping on Fresno lawn is shot after assaulting man, authorities say Oct. 9, 2026 Federal prosecutors charge Venezuelan man shot by ICE agent in Texas with assaulting an officer Sept. 29, 2026 ICE dragged him from his doorstep in January. His elderly partner fears he’ll die in detention Sept. 8, 2026 Show Comments CaliforniaCrime & CourtsBreaking News The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.

Brittny Mejia is a Metro reporter covering federal courts and immigration for the Los Angeles Times. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2021 for her investigation with colleague Jack Dolan that exposed failures in Los Angeles County’s safety-net healthcare system. She joined The Times in 2014.

Iris Kwok is a breaking news reporter at the Los Angeles Times. She was a 2025-26 reporting fellow at The Times and previously covered the environment at Berkeleyside. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she studied political science and music. A lifelong cellist, she has written about classical music for the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Classical Voice. She grew up in the Bay Area and the Sacramento region.

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