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FBI deems fatal shooting of ICE agent in Long Beach justified

By Victoria Kim
, Cindy Chang and Kate Mather
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has determined that an immigration agent was justified in fatally shooting a colleague who had shot their boss last year at a federal building in Long Beach.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller on Friday declined to elaborate on the FBI’s investigation into the Feb. 16, 2012, shooting at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, but confirmed to The Times ‘no surviving agents involved in the shooting were found to be criminally culpable,’ meaning criminal charges would not be pursued.

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The double shooting was sparked by an exchange between a longtime federal immigration agent, Ezequiel Garcia, and the second-in-command for ICE in Los Angeles, Kevin Kozak, who had met over Garcia’s job performance.

The exchange grew heated, and authorities said Garcia fired at least six shots at Kozak, wounding him.

Another unidentified agent intervened, fatally shooting Garcia. Kozak, a 30-year veteran agent who previously served as acting head of ICE’s Los Angeles operations, survived.

ICE declined to comment on the FBI’s investigation, but said an internal incident review is ongoing. Formed in 2003, ICE is the main investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security and has agents across the United States and in dozens of foreign countries. The agents are involved in immigration enforcement, customs inspections, and efforts that target gang members and traffickers who move people and illegal goods into the United States.

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— Victoria Kim, Cindy Chang and Kate Mather

L.A. Now
Victoria Kim

Victoria Kim is the former Seoul correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. She previously covered state and federal courts, worked on investigative projects and reported on Southern California’s Korean community.

Cindy Chang

Cindy Chang is a deputy Metro editor. She came to the Los Angeles Times in 2012, first covering immigration and ethnic communities before moving to the L.A. County sheriff’s beat and then the LAPD. Previously, she was at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, where she was the lead writer for a series on Louisiana prisons that won several national awards. A graduate of Yale University and NYU School of Law, she began her journalism career at the Pasadena Star-News.

Kate Mather

Kate Mather covered crime, policing and breaking news across Southern California before leaving The Times in 2018 to attend law school. A native of Lawrence, Kan., she studied journalism at USC before first joining The Times in 2011. Mather was part of the team of reporters that received a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, as well as the team that was a Pulitzer finalist for its reporting on a deadly 2014 rampage in Isla Vista, Calif.

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