A teen who witnesses claimed was ambushed by ICE on a California street was actually a suspected violent jewelry thief involved in a smash-and-grab heist, police said.
Footage of a 17-year-old 'victim' being tackled by law enforcement officers outside of cellphone store All In One Mobile Inc in Lynwood sparked outrage over the weekend.
Viewers were led to believe that it showed border patrol agents approaching him out of the blue before hitting him in the face with a gun and tackling him to the ground on Friday.
Bystanders who were also convinced that they were watching an ICE raid shouted at the officers as the dramatic scene unfolded.
But authorities have now revealed it had nothing to do with immigration enforcement operations.
The law enforcement officials involved in the incident were undercover Anaheim police officers, a department spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
And their encounter with the young man was not unprompted.
He is a suspect in a jewelry store robbery from late last month and was allegedly on an attempted carjacking spree when cops approached him.
Police officers tackled the 17-year-old to the ground on Friday
The teen was seen pulling at a black car's handle as a cop approached
The spokesperson said that the video from Friday only captured the tail-end of what had been a dramatic police chase to arrest the teen.
He was originally in a vehicle but took off running from law enforcement officials and even allegedly broke into someone's house to dodge being arrested.
The suspect jumped a wall and unsuccessfully tried to carjack a vehicle before moving onto the black Chevy - seen in the viral clip - that cops arrested him near.
Cops found a gun, a ski mask, and a 'carjacking device' in the car he was driving before his capture.
'He was up to no good, for sure,' the spokesperson told the Daily Mail, noting that he also has an outstanding felony in Los Angeles County unrelated to the jewelry heist.
Police believe that the alleged attempted car thief was the last suspect in a harrowing jewelry store robbery in the Anaheim Hills on January 23.
Eight culprits were caught on camera driving an SUV through Classic Jewelers before jumping out and raiding the store's shelves for expensive items.
The owner of the store, Ramzy Tabello, told ABC that the vicious attackers also stole the gun he kept in the store.
A car drove through Classic Jewelers on January 23 during the robbery
The culprits smashed all the display cases and robbed the store of $75,000 worth of jewels
He described the ordeal as the 'scariest moment of his life' to ABC. 'It was chaos. I thought I was going to get shot or hit by a hammer.'
The gaggle of robbers fled the scene in two vehicles with $75,000 worth of stolen merchandise.
Cops were chasing the getaway vehicles when they both got into car crashes a few miles away from the store they sped off from in Fullerton.
The first car caused a multi-vehicle pile-up, according to police. Four suspects were arrested at the scene, and investigators found jewels scattered among the debris.
Multiple innocent drivers were injured in the collision.
Swat officers detained all but one of the remaining suspects from the second vehicle. The one who got away is believed to be the teen arrested on Friday.
Investigators believe that the heist was not an isolated incident.
'This is not their first time doing it,' Anaheim Sergeant Eric Anderson said. 'By the looks of the video I've seen, this is someone who had a plan.
One of the cars involved in the heist is seen after a collision after the culprits fled the scene
Ramcy Tabelo, the owner of Classic Jewelers thought the thieves were going to shoot him after the stole his gun
'They attempted that plan, but the outstanding police work from the Anaheim Police Department was definitely not going to let that plan go through.'
The suspects have been identified as: Jose Andres Martinez-Colindres, 24; Leontrey Gipson, 23; Deondre Jones, 23; Tylaind Brown, 20; Khilen Toles,20; Khamari Toles, 20; Latrell Mathews, 19; Male juvenile, 17.
The Anaheim Police Department's confirmation came after misinformation about the event rapidly spread online.
'Footage shows an ICE agent pistol-whipping a 16-year-old boy in the face with a handgun as the teen appears to be raising his hands and unarmed,' one X account claimed.
'He's a minor! And for no reason - How Nazi of ICE with a probable untrained German Shepherd,' another woman declared.
The police spokesperson said the teen's arrest - like any arrest involving the use of force - is under investigation.
The suspect was booked into a juvenile detention center.
