los angeles — LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles man who was shot by federal officers while trying to evade arrest Tuesday morning is a popular local TikTok user who documents police activity, immigration enforcement and daily life in the neighborhood.
Carlitos Ricardo Barillas, 44, was charged with assaulting a federal officer after authorities said he rammed his car as they tried to arrest him on an immigration warrant. Federal authorities said he was a Mexican citizen living in the United States illegally. Agents shot him in the elbow during the standoff and he remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday morning. The initial court appearance has been postponed.
His lawyer, Carlos Jurado, said the hospital has not yet allowed him or his family members to see Barias. Barias called Jurado briefly Wednesday morning and said guards were watching him.
“What we want is we want to see it in person,” Jurado said. The hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Barias is known in the South Los Angeles neighborhood for his Spanish-language videos posted on TikTok on two accounts with more than 340,000 followers. Videos on his page dating back to 2024 document police activity, car crashes, and fires, as well as tortilla making, Mexican landscapes, rainy days in Los Angeles, and animals. This year, the footage also focused on demonstrations against immigration enforcement and arrests by federal deportation authorities.
Barias is one of many social media users posting about immigration raids and arrests throughout Southern California, often relaying information in real time to alert community members.
Los Angeles City Councilman Corinne Price’s office recently recognized Barias for his reporting. He also shared information about city services such as food assistance programs and toy giveaways, said Jose Ugarte, Price’s chief of staff.
“People are afraid to go to certain areas,” Ugarte said. “We realized that Richard was providing a lot of news to a lot of our residents.”
Federal agents were monitoring Barias’ neighborhood Tuesday morning because they had an administrative arrest warrant against him, according to a criminal complaint released by the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essay. When Barias left his house and got into the car, the agents followed him and surrounded him with their cars. Barias drove his vehicle back and forth and struck law enforcement vehicles, the complaint said. One agent tried to break the car’s side window, and at least one officer eventually opened fire. The Deputy US Marshal who assisted in the arrest was struck in the hand by a ricocheted bullet.
This is the second time federal authorities have tried to arrest Barias, said Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security. She did not immediately respond to requests for comment about whether there was a deportation order for Barias or whether he had been deported before.
His attorney, Jurado, said he had no details about any previous interactions between Barias and federal officials.
Ugarte and the attorneys said Barias met with ICE agents on June 13 when he was documenting their activity. A video posted on a different TikTok account shows a man identified as Barias wearing a “press” jacket sitting on the ground and holding his leg. Ugarte said Barias told him he was pushed and had to go to the hospital.
One video posted on Barias’ page in September shows a white truck partially blocked by two cars, with a song about migrants by Guatemalan singer Ricardo Arjona playing in the background. Another video of the scene warns followers to be careful when seeing “how border agents move our people from one car to another.”
Just last week, another video on his page showed police searching a car parked on the side of the road near a building covered in graffiti. The narrator explains that authorities found what appeared to be a homeless person dead inside. He reports from Los Angeles, “where luck and death go hand in hand,” he says.
Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network, said independent reporting from community members is essential as immigration agents fan out across the region making arrests.
“It’s another example of how this kind of leadership on the street overshadows the leadership of people in positions of power, whether in municipal government or in the media,” Newman said. “They serve the public interest incredibly well.”
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Thaksin reported from Santa Ana, California.