Oregon officials are opening an investigation into a shooting by federal agents in Portland that left a married couple wounded and sparked renewed outrage in the city over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown there and across the US.
The shooting inflamed tensions a day after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, prompting protests and condemnation from state and city officials there.
Following Wednesday’s killing, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told agents to “get the fuck out” of the city. Oregon state Sen. Kayse Jama took a similar tone during a news conference after the Portland shooting, telling ICE agents to “get the hell out of our community.”
The Portland shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon as US Border Patrol agents were conducting a “targeted vehicle stop” and one of the agents “fired defensive shots” after the driver tried to run the agents over, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene,” she added.
No agents were injured in the shooting, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.
McLaughlin said the driver and passenger are believed to be linked to Tren de Aragua, the notorious Venezuelan gang President Donald Trump has long targeted amid accusations of drug trafficking, murder and other violence, though she did not provide evidence.
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 conditions of the patients weren’t known Thursday night, he added.
The chief said his department didn’t know if the vehicle involved in the shooting had been weaponized against the agents.
The two people who were shot are married, a senior law enforcement told CNN.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson linked Thursday’s shooting to the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, the circumstances of which has 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.”
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 FBI said it is investigating an “assault” on two CBP agents. 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 months-long 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.
