2 shot by Border Patrol in Portland, sparking outcry from state and local leaders

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents confronted and shot a man and a woman Thursday afternoon in a medical clinic parking lot near Adventist Health hospital in Southeast Portland, authorities and witnesses said.

The man was wounded in the arm or leg and the woman in the chest, according to dispatch audio and Portland police sources. They are believed to be a married couple. Police said they didn’t know their conditions.

The shooting occurred about 2:15 p.m. at Adventist Health’s Medical Office 3 building at 10201 S.E. Main St. as federal officers tried to box in a truck that had driven into the lot, police and a witness said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, said agents were trying to make a traffic stop at the time of the shooting. She characterized it as self-defense.

She said agents had targeted one of the truck’s occupants as a “Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who had been involved in a recent shooting in Portland. The driver was a Tren de Aragua member, she said.

“When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents,” she said. “Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot. The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene. This situation is evolving, and more information is forthcoming.”

She didn’t release any names.

The FBI released a statement saying its Portland office is “investigating an assault on federal officers … involving two Customs and Border Patrol agents.”

“The two assailants fled the scene immediately following the shooting and are currently being treated for their injuries,” the statement said.

Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield said Thursday night that he was opening a formal investigation into the shooting.

“We have been clear about our concerns with excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland and nationally,” Rayfield said in a statement. “We have also been clear about our intent to investigate circumstances involving federal agents to ensure they are accountable to acting within the scope of their official duties.”

Few details have emerged so far about what led to the the shooting as hundreds gathered for a candlelight vigil outside Portland City Hall and community leaders held a news conference to decry the violence.

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Japhet De Oliveira, a spokesperson for Adventist Health, said police responded to the shooting in the Adventist Health Portland campus in an area with several clinics and offices.

Tina Henderson, who works in the medical office at the shooting scene, said someone ran into her suite and said, “You guys, be careful. There was just a shooting in the parking lot.”

A man who was at the medical building said he saw federal officers follow a Toyota truck into the parking lot of the office building and try to corner it.

One officer pounded on the window, he said. The driver then backed up and moved forward at least a couple of times, striking a car behind him, before turning and speeding off, said the man who gave only his first name. It’s not clear if the car hit by the truck belonged to the federal officers.

Officers fired about five shots at the truck as it left, the witness said.

Portland police said they received two calls — one at the medical office and then one about 40 blocks away in Northeast Portland, where they found a man and woman with gunshot wounds at Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside.

“Officers applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel,” police said in a statement. “The patients were transported to the hospital.”

Police Chief Bob Day urged residents to stay calm “as we work to learn more.”

“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” he said. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis.”

READ MORE: Oregon leaders react to shooting by federal agents in Portland

On Wednesday, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman who had been observing immigration agents when they said she pulled forward in her car.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson condemned the shootings and called on federal immigration officials “to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

“Just one day after the horrific violence in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents, our community here in Portland is now grappling with another deeply troubling incident,” Wilson said in a statement.

“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,” he said.

Gov. Tina Kotek appeared later at a news conference with Wilson and other political and community leaders and demanded that federal authorities launch a full investigation and “not more detentions.”

“Oregonians deserve clear answers,” she said.

Oregonian reporters Noelle Crombie, Kristine de Leon, Yesenia Amaro and Jonathan Bach contributed to this story.

Read the original article on oregonlive.com.