LAPD isn’t supposed to shoot at cars. Recent cases show ICE still does
Two recent shootings by federal immigration officers have shed new light on incidents of police shooting into moving vehicles; This tactic has fallen out of favor with the LAPD and many other law enforcement agencies across the country because it often turns deadly and puts bystanders at risk.
On Thursday, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle in the parking lot of a medical clinic in Portland, Oregon; This sparked protests and calls from local leaders for the Trump administration to end ICE operations in the city until a full investigation is completed.
The controversial killing in Minneapolis on Wednesday involved an ICE agent shooting into a car. Eyewitness footage shows an agent drawing a gun and firing at 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good as she tried to stop her from driving away in her SUV. Good reportedly stopped to film ICE’s crackdown on the city.
Trump administration officials said officers in both attacks were defending themselves and feared for their lives after drivers tried to “weaponize” their vehicles. Multiple investigations, including by the FBI, are ongoing, and prosecutors have said no decisions will be made until those investigations are completed.
Although the public perception, often driven by Hollywood shootings in which good guys with guns fire at moving cars, is that it is common for police to open fire on vehicles, the reality is that many agencies now advise against officers using deadly force on drivers unless necessary to save their lives or prevent others from being killed.
The LAPD adopted its own rules along those lines nearly 20 years ago following the controversial shooting of a teenage boy who was killed while fleeing police in a stolen vehicle.
Many police experts say having to fire at a moving vehicle is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable situations a police officer can face.
The risk, they say, is that the driver who was hit would lose control. The New York City Police Department was an early adopter of the limits following a 1972 shooting that killed a 10-year-old passenger in a stolen car and sparked protests. Dozens of other departments have adopted similar policies in the decades since. Police Executive Research Forum and International Assn. effective policing organizations such as Police Chiefs have proposed restrictions in the past that have also been pushed by the Department of Justice.
Bill Essayli, who runs the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said at a news conference Friday that recent incidents involve agitators “trying to create a situation that causes chaos and wanting to trigger a law enforcement response because they disagree with our immigration laws.”
“If you use your car to hit a police officer or a federal agent, they’re going to use deadly force, so people need to know this is not a game. This is not a game. Don’t crash your car into a police officer. If an officer gives you an instruction, obey and no one will be harmed or injured,” he said.
Experts acknowledge that cars can be deadly, noting that scores of officers across the country have been run over and killed while working at crash scenes or writing tickets. But they also say stray gunfire is a major concern, given the difficulties of trying to hit a moving target.
Over the past decade, LAPD officers have shot at drivers an average of four times a year, according to police data reviewed by The Times. In all but one of the cases, police officers were reprimanded or ordered to undergo retraining for errors in actions that led to the shootings. But in more than two-thirds of the cases, police officials concluded that the officers were justified in opening fire.
In 10 cases, police officials concluded that the officers’ decision to use deadly force was so flawed that the shootings were “out of policy” and should not have occurred.
Since January 2015, LAPD officers have fired weapons into vehicles at least 36 times, killing seven drivers or passengers and wounding 12 others, according to a Times database. In 22 of the cases, police said at least one of the people in the vehicle was carrying a weapon, most often a firearm.
But in 12 of the cases, the targeted person was not armed; these included several individuals who were later found in possession of fake firearms.
On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security released what it called new statistics on a significant increase in “vehicular attacks”; There were 66 such incidents against ICE personnel between Jan. 21, 2025, and Jan. 7, compared with two during the same period the year before, he said.
Ruben Lopez, a retired LAPD SWAT lieutenant who now teaches use-of-force techniques to officers across the country, said agencies discourage drive-by shootings because of the potential danger they pose.
“Bad tactics always lead to bad shots,” he said. “Even if you try to arrest someone who is trying to escape, that should not automatically result in the death penalty.”
Jim DeSimone, a longtime civil rights attorney who has filed numerous wrongful death and excessive force lawsuits against area agencies, said it was clear to him as he watched and rewatched video of the Minneapolis shooting that Good was trying to get away from the officers, not attack them.
“At this point you let him go,” he said.
Courts have long held that police officers who shoot at slow-moving vehicles are not entitled to qualified immunity. But he said law enforcement leaders still often try to justify officers’ actions by claiming the person used the vehicle as a weapon.
DeSimone is representing the family of 25-year-old Jose Juan Ayon Romero, who was killed when San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputies opened fire on his vehicle as it rolled toward them during a traffic stop, the attorney said. Ayon Romero’s 4-year-old son was in the back seat but was not hit.
The shooting, with audio but not video, took place in January 2020. The trial is scheduled to begin in mid-February.
Times writer Sonja Sharp and Associated Press contributed to this report.
