Eli Steele says "The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful"

Eli SteeleFilmmaker, in a Fox News opinion column

In a Fox News opinion column, filmmaker Eli Steele argued that activists turned the man into a symbol by dismissing his criminal record, and said investigators and the courts should judge both the officer who fired and the man.

“The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful, and due process, which protects all individuals within this country, including those who are not citizens. ... So let the courts judge the officer who fired, and let them judge Oscar Belgal too.”

Analysis

Open source (opens in a new tab)NYC ICE shooting exposes how White guilt erases personal responsibility (Eli Steele, Fox News opinion)Closing paragraphs, beginning with the paragraph on the man's lawyer.
An NYPD officer stands near vehicles and bystanders at the Marble Hill shooting scene.
Credit: New York City Police Department body-worn camera footage

Where this statement fits

Was ICE justified in shooting a man in a car in Marble Hill?

On October 8, 2026, an ICE officer shot a man in a car near Marble Hill Avenue and West 225th Street in Marble Hill, a neighborhood the NYPD placed in the Bronx and ABC News and The Intercept placed in upper Manhattan. DHS said ICE officers were conducting a targeted operation in the Bronx to arrest a man from the Dominican Republic with a prior grand larceny conviction and multiple prior arrests, and that an officer discharged his weapon during the incident. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said early reports indicated agents surrounded the man and his 5-year-old child in the car before firing multiple rounds. The NYPD said it was not involved and that the man was conscious at a hospital. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch later said evidence at the scene indicates at least one ICE agent discharged seven rounds, striking the driver in the neck. At a press conference on October 9, ICE's Marcos Charles said the man accelerated into two ICE vehicles and toward other officers, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the agents feared for their lives. A federal judge later barred ICE from removing the man from the country or moving him outside New York and New Jersey while his habeas corpus petition proceeds.

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Source and context

Analysis

NYC ICE shooting exposes how White guilt erases personal responsibility (Eli Steele, Fox News opinion) (opens in a new tab)Closing paragraphs, beginning with the paragraph on the man's lawyer.

About this source

Opinion column by filmmaker Eli Steele on the reaction to the Marble Hill shooting.

Archived copy (opens in a new tab)

Before the quotation

Steele described the man's criminal record as reported by the police commissioner and federal officials, criticized Darializa Avila Chevalier for saying it did not matter, and quoted the man's lawyer saying it is not lawful to shoot a father regardless of criminal history.

After the quotation

He argued that activists keep the man a symbol of oppression by stripping him of responsibility for his choices.

How this statement is classified

Explicitly stayed out

The label describes this statement's response within the context above.

Why this label?

The reference point is whether the ICE officer was justified in shooting the man in the car. Steele says "The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful" and asks the courts to "judge the officer who fired", leaving that question to investigators instead of answering it, so we labeled it Explicitly stayed out. The closest competing label is Challenged characterization, since most of the column disputes how activists portrayed the man; it loses because on the shooting itself he defers to the investigations.

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The Dispute Index
Title
Eli Steele says "The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful"
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https://disputeindex.com/events/5665-in-a-fox-news-opinion-column-filmmaker-eli

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The Dispute Index. "Eli Steele says "The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful"". First published: 2026-10-13. Last updated: 2026-10-13. https://disputeindex.com/events/5665-in-a-fox-news-opinion-column-filmmaker-eli