Police say federal agents shot two people in Portland
Two people are hospitalized after reportedly being shot by federal Border Patrol agents in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday.
The Portland Police Department said officers responded to a 911 call around 2:18 p.m, where they found a male and female with apparent gunshot wounds. The department said federal agents were involved.
“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day said in a statement. “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.”
Portland officers applied a tourniquet and the patients were taken to the hospital. Their conditions are currently unknown and names have not been released.
The investigation into the shooting is being led by the FBI, Day said at a news conference. Local police do not know if it was an immigration-related event, he added.
“It’s a complex situation with a lot of different information coming out,” Day said at a news conference.
The Department of Homeland Security wrote on X that the Border Patrol agents were conducting a “targeted vehicle stop” in Portland on Thursday. When agents identified themselves to the people in the car, DHS said, the driver, who was in the country unlawfully, “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.
While DHS said the driver is believed to be a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, this was not immediately verifiable and the agency did not give evidence of this claim in their posts.
Mayor Keith Wilson issued a statement decrying another “deeply troubling incident” just one day after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minnesota.
“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,” Wilson said. “As Mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”
Portland is what’s called a sanctuary city, meaning that city employees, including police, are prohibited from working with federal immigration authorities.
“Federal militarization undermines effective, community‑based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region,” Wilson said. “I will use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents’ civil and human rights.”
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said that while details about the incident remain limited, “one thing is very clear: when a president endorses tearing families apart and attempts to govern through fear and hate rather than shared values, you foster an environment of lawlessness and recklessness.”
“Trust is essential to maintaining community safety and the rule of law. Federal agents, at the direction of the Department of Homeland Security, are shattering trust,” Kotek said. “They are hurting people, and they are destroying day by day what we hold dear, our sense of safety and our literal safety are severely undermined by what happened this afternoon in Portland.”
The post Police say federal agents shot two people in Portland appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
