Man shot by ICE in Patterson ‘absolutely not a gang member,’ family attorney says
A Modesto attorney who is representing the family of a man shot during an encounter with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is emphatically denying the government’s version of what happened.
Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was hospitalized in critical condition following the shooting at about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday near Sperry Avenue and Interstate 5 in Patterson.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said on X that Mendoza Hernandez was “an 18th Street Gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder.” Lyons claimed Mendoza Hernandez was shot after attempting to hit an officer with his car.
Patrick Kolasinski, who handles immigration and criminal defense and has represented several people arrested by ICE in recent months, told The Bee in a phone interview on Tuesday evening that he had spoken with Mendoza Hernandez’s family.
“The one thing that they asked that we communicate most clearly is that he is absolutely not a gang member,” Kolasinski said.
Who Mendoza Hernandez is, according to Kolasinski
Kolasinski said that Mendoza Hernandez lived in Patterson and has an American fiancee and a 2-year-old daughter, who is a U.S. citizen.
Mendoza Hernandez was originally from El Salvador, where he had another child who still lives there. Kolasinski noted that Mendoza Hernandez had not applied for U.S. citizenship but also was not subject to a deportation order.
“He lives in Patterson,” Kolasinski said. “He’s lived there for years.”
When the shooting occurred, Mendoza Hernandez was on his way to a job in the Bay Area, Kolasinski said. He left his home shortly before the incident, which occurred near an on-ramp to Interstate 5, where he would have been getting on the highway, Kolasinski said he heard from Mendoza Hernandez’s fiancée.
Asked how Mendoza Hernandez’s family was doing, Kolasinski said they were reeling.
“There’s just a shock,” Kolasinski said. “When his fiancee heard about the shooting, she didn’t imagine for a moment it would be him. And it was only when her sister was contacted by the media that they realized that that’s who it was.”
View of the traffic stop
Video that circulated online Tuesday appeared to show Mendoza Hernandez possibly driving toward an officer with his car. Kolasinski disputed this, saying he had watched the video six times.
Kolasinski referenced Renée Good, a Minneapolis woman fatally shot by ICE in January while driving her car.
“What I see is Carlos rapidly backing away from the officers,” Kolasinski said. “And it reminds me, actually, of Renée Good, which is crazy. But he backs away from the officers. There’s no officer behind him. As he backs up, his passenger door swings open and gets stuck on the officer, on the officer’s car. The officers then step in front of him, into the side of the vehicle.”
Kolasinski continued: “He turns his wheels very, very hard to the left and moves in a way that moves the front of the car away from the officers, avoiding them to try to get away. As I’m watching that video, he took great pains to not hit the officers while they were shooting at him.”
While he spoke to The Bee, Kolasinski was on his way to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, where he had heard that Mendoza Hernandez had been hospitalized. He said that Mendoza Hernandez had stabilized somewhat and that the family was expecting him to survive.
Kolasinski said it was the family’s understanding that Mendoza Hernandez was being held by the FBI at the hospital.
What comes next
Kolasinski hadn’t spoken with the family about the prospect of taking legal action against ICE, though he acknowledged that it was under consideration.
“I just think that that’s not a priority for the family at the moment,” Kolasinski said. “The priority now is getting him home to his kids and having him survive the shooting.”
Kolasinski said he had represented between four and six people arrested by ICE in San Joaquin County or Stanislaus County in recent months.
Speaking in general terms, Kolasinski said the modus operandi for ICE was to flash their lights and that people would stop their cars, even if there wasn’t probable cause for a stop. From there, people would be detained and their cars would be left where they were.
“So far it has been targeted pickups,” Kolasinski said.
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 8:56 PM with the headline "Man shot by ICE in Patterson ‘absolutely not a gang member,’ family attorney says."
