Oregon to investigate Border Patrol shooting of man and woman who authorities say have ties to notorious gang
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By Lex Harvey, Holly Yan, Taylor Romine, CNN
(CNN) — Oregon authorities are investigating a shooting by a Border Patrol agent in Portland that wounded two people authorities say are tied to a violent international gang – an incident that renewed questions about the Trump administration’s handling of its immigration crackdown in the city and across the US.
The Department of Homeland Security said the two people involved were tied to Tren de Aragua. Portland Police Chief Bob Day said they do have “some nexus” to the gang during a news conference Friday.
The two people who were shot are in stable condition and are “on the road to recovery,” Day said.
Both remain in federal custody, the chief added.
The shooting happened Thursday during a targeted vehicle stop around 2:19 p.m. Portland time, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. She said the driver tried to run over a Border Patrol agent, and the agent opened fire in self-defense.
The driver, identified as Luis David Nino-Moncada, “is a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member,” DHS posted Friday on X.
“The passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, is a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela and is associated with Tren de Aragua,” the DHS said. “Since illegally entering, Contreras played an active role in a Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and was involved with a prior shooting in Portland.”
Tren de Aragua is a notorious Venezuelan gang President Donald Trump has targeted amid accusations of drug trafficking, murder and other violence. Details about why federal authorities believe the two are linked to Tren de Aragua were not immediately released.
When Border Patrol agents identified themselves to the occupants in the car, “the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents,” McLaughlin said Thursday.
“Fearing for his life and safety,” an agent opened fire, she said. “The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene.”
The car’s occupants were later taken to a hospital after local police found them, a senior law enforcement source said. The man in the car was shot in the arm, and the woman was shot in the chest, the source said.
In the first hours after the incident, a DHS law enforcement official cited to CNN an incident report indicating that the two suspects were married and were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang. On Friday, McLaughlin told CNN the man and woman are not married.
Both remained hospitalized Friday morning, and the FBI will assume custody upon their release, DHS said. The FBI, calling the incident an assault on federal officers, said it is investigating the case.
No agents were injured in the shooting, DHS said in a statement Friday.
Thursday’s shooting in Portland heightened tensions a day after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, prompting protests nationwide.
After Wednesday’s killing in Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey told agents to “get the fuck out” of the city. After the Portland shooting, Oregon state Sen. Kayse Jama took a similar tone, telling ICE agents to “get the hell out of our community.”
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said local officers weren’t involved in the incident, but responded to reports of a shooting involving federal agents just after 2:15 p.m. Thursday.
Minutes later, police received a call from a different location from a man who said he’d been shot by federal officers and was requesting help, according to Day and dispatch audio.
When officers arrived, they found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds, and emergency responders transported them to a hospital, Day said.
The chief said his department didn’t know if the vehicle involved in the shooting had been weaponized against the agents.
DHS said Nino-Moncada entered the US illegally in 2022 and was released “into the country by the Biden administration.” He “has a final order of removal,” DHS said.
Additional details about his previous encounters with immigration authorities were not immediately available.
Zambrano-Contreras “illegally entered the US in 2023 near El Paso, Texas,” and was released “into this country by the Biden administration,” DHS said.
The agency did not give further details about her prior encounters with immigration authorities.
DHS also said Zambrano-Contreras was involved in a prior shooting in Portland.
Day revealed Friday there was a shooting in Portland last July, where a victim, a Venezuelan immigrant, said the suspects in the shooting are associated with Tren de Aragua. The man and woman who were shot Thursday were identified as being associated with the gang, but are not currently suspects, Day said.
Additionally, both people appear to be involved in criminal cases in Washington County, Oregon, he said.
The chief said he was hesitant to share the information due to the “historic injustice of victim blaming oftentimes portrayed by law enforcement,” but felt it was necessary to share since he was previously asked Thursday.
“This in no way draws a through line to the actions or the behaviors that occurred yesterday,” he said. Day became emotional while speaking to the Latino community during the news conference, saying, “It saddens me that we even have to qualify these remarks.”
“This information in no way is meant to disparage or to condone or support or agree with any of the actions that occurred yesterday. But it is important that we stay committed to the rule of law, that we stay committed to the facts,” he said.
State to investigate shooting
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson linked Thursday’s shooting to the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, the circumstances of which have been disputed by federal and local officials. Wilson said he had spoken to the Minneapolis mayor earlier in the day to offer condolences and called Good’s death “entirely preventable” in a statement Thursday morning.
Hours after the mayors spoke, Wilson was similarly casting doubt on the Trump administration’s characterization of what took place in Portland.
“We know what the federal government says happened here. There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time has long passed,” he said.
Wilson called for ICE to halt all operations in Portland until an investigation can take place.
“Portland is not a training ground for militarized agents,” Wilson said. “When the administration talks about using full force, we are seeing what it means on our streets.”
In the wake of Thursday’s shooting, demonstrators gathered outside the ICE facility in Portland – the site of tense and colorful protests last year.
Six people were arrested during the protest Thursday night, police said, and Day later said a couple of officers were slightly injured.
There was an increase in “energy and intensity” in the protests, Day said, but he was hopeful protesters would remain peaceful throughout the weekend.
“We will continue to be challenged with all of the various influences that are coming upon us, but I’m asking and encouraging Portlanders to not lose the credibility that we have built up, not only locally but nationally,” he said.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced late Thursday the state will open an investigation into the shooting, saying officials “have been clear about our concerns with excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland and nationally.”
“The investigation will look into whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority and will include witness interviews, video evidence, and other relevant materials,” Rayfield said.
On the federal government side, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting the FBI, it said.
Trump has frequently taken aim at Portland, depicting the liberal city as a crime-riddled war zone and falsely claiming on several occasions that it is “burning to the ground.”
The White House was locked in a monthslong battle with city and state officials over the administration’s controversial deployment of National Guard troops to the city, which was blocked by a federal judge. City officials have argued Trump’s incendiary remarks and troop deployments have inflamed violence in the city, which has been rocked by frequent protests over immigration enforcement.
Multnomah County, which includes part of Portland, voted Thursday to extend an emergency declaration in response to ICE’s continued presence in the area, County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said.
The declaration was originally issued in December “in response to ongoing impacts from federal immigration enforcement,” Vega Pederson said at the time.
“Multnomah County will not stand by as federal governments attack our neighbors,” she said Thursday.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Amanda Musa, Josh Campbell, Priscilla Alvarez, John Miller and Lizzie Jury contributed to this report.
