Federal agents in the United States have shot two people in the city of Portland, Oregon, a city where the administration of President Donald Trump has led an immigration enforcement crackdown.
On Thursday, the Portland Police Department announced they had responded to reports of gunfire on Southeast Main Street around 2:18pm local time (22:18 GMT).
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“Officers confirmed that federal agents had been involved in a shooting,” the city said in a statement.
Emergency responders then received a call for assistance from one of the shooting victims, a man, around 2:24pm (22:24 GMT) near Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside in Portland’s Hazelwood neighbourhood.
“Officers responded and found a male and female with apparent gunshot wounds,” the statement said. “Officers applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel.”
The two shooting victims were transported to a hospital. Their conditions remain unknown, according to the police.
The local bureau of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed the shooting in a now-deleted post on social media, saying that the incident involved Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents.
“This remains and active and ongoing investigation led by the FBI,” Portland’s FBI bureau said in the post.
Later, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offered its own account of what happened, describing the shooting as self-defence during a “targeted vehicle stop”.
In a social media post, DHS said its target was a passenger travelling inside a vehicle, who was affiliated with a “transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and involved in a recent shooting”. The driver, DHS claimed, was a member of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang.
“When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents,” DHS said in its post.
“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot. The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene.”
This is the second time in two days that the Department of Homeland Security claimed a federal agent fired a shot in self-defence at a moving vehicle.
The Portland shooting comes one day after an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in her car in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Democratic officials have accused the Trump administration of misrepresenting Good’s actions as an act of “domestic terrorism”, despite video appearing to show the 37-year-old moving her vehicle away from agents.
In the aftermath of Thursday’s incident, Portland Police Chief Bob Day released a statement calling for calm.
“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” Day said.
“We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”
Earlier in the day, Portland’s Mayor Keith Wilson expressed solidarity with Minneapolis after Good’s death, which has sparked nationwide outrage.
“Portland stands with you, Minnesota. I warned Homeland Security leadership that their actions constituted a disaster in the making. Yesterday’s horrific loss of life is the direct consequence of ignoring that warning,” Wilson said in a statement.
“Elected officials cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. ICE agents and their Homeland Security leadership must be fully investigated and held responsible for their violence against the American people, in Minnesota, in Portland, and across the nation.”
The Trump administration has framed Good’s shooting as an act of self-defence on the part of the ICE agent involved, though video appeared to show Good attempting to manoeuvre her vehicle away from federal officers.
Portland has also been a focal point of Trump’s immigration enforcement actions, and the increased federal presence has ignited largely nonviolent protests in response.
Source: Aljazeera
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