Two people were shot by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, Portland police said. The Department of Homeland Security said the shooting involved Customs and Border Patrol agents.
Two people, a man and a woman, were wounded and hospitalized, Portland Police Chief Bob Day said in a news conference Thursday night. Their conditions were unknown and their names have not been released.
DHS said Border Patrol agents stopped a car searching for a Venezuelan they claim is in the country illegally and a member of the Tren de Aragua gang. DHS said after the agents identified themselves, the driver “weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents.”
“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot,” DHS said. The department said the man drove off with his passenger.
The shooting occurred at around 2:18 p.m. local time in the Hazelwood neighborhood in East Portland. Portland police officers responded to a 911 call and “confirmed federal agents were involved in a shooting,” Day said.
About six minutes later, Day explained, officers responded to a separate location on a 911 call, where they found a man and woman with gunshot wounds.
“Officers determined that the two people who were injured were injured in the shooting involving the federal agents in the earlier call,” Day said. The two victims were then rushed to a hospital.
Day said that local authorities had not confirmed which federal agency was involved in the shooting.
“We at this time do not know if this is an immigration-related event. We do not know which federal agencies involved,” Day said.
Day added that “it’s early on, we do not know the cause.”
The police chief told reporters that the FBI was investigating the shooting.
“This is a federal investigation being led by the FBI,” Day said, noting that Portland police were providing “investigative support and perimeter support” that was “minimal.”
“Our community deserves answers, our community deserves accountability, and most of all, our community deserves peace,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in the news conference.
The shooting comes a day after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis. DHS officials also alleged in that incident that Good had “weaponized her vehicle,” although Minnesota officials and video from the scene have cast doubt on that assertion.
In an earlier statement, Wilson said: “We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As Mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said on social media, “Trump’s deployment of federal agents in my hometown is clearly inflaming violence — and must end.” Fellow Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley wrote on Facebook, “Please keep protests of Trump’s ICE/CBP peaceful, as Trump wants to generate riots. Don’t take the bait.”
A Portland City Council session abruptly recessed on Thursday after members were informed of the shooting.
Portland has been the site of continued protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown for months. This fall, hundreds of National Guard troops were sent to Portland to “protect federal assets and personnel” carrying out immigration operations, the White House said.
President Trump said last week that he was pulling National Guard troops out of Portland as well as Chicago and Los Angeles, after a federal court ruled against the administration’s action. But he said, “we will come back” if crime “begins to soar again.”
