Two people were injured Thursday by gunfire from federal agents in Portland, Oregon, a day after a woman was shot and killed in Minneapolis by an officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an incident that has sparked protests, while the U.S. government has justified the agent’s actions.
“Two people are hospitalized following a shooting involving federal agents,” the Portland Police Department announced in a statement posted on its website, specifying that the department “was not involved in the incident.”
The shooting occurred shortly before 2:18 p.m. (local time), when local police received a report of a shooting, confirming that “federal agents were involved.”
Minutes later, the department received a second call, this time from “a man who had been shot and was calling for help.” “Officers responded to the scene and found a man and a woman with apparent gunshot wounds. Officers applied tourniquets and called emergency medical personnel. The patients were transported to the hospital,” the statement added.
The Portland Police Department did not specify which agency the agents involved in the incident belonged to, but sources cited by the American television network ABC News pointed to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Police Chief Bob Day appealed for “calm while we work to gather more information,” even though “we understand the great emotion and tension many are feeling after the shooting in Minneapolis.”
He was referring to the events that took place the previous day, when an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good during a raid in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security insisted that the woman used her car as a weapon, calling the incident a clear case of “domestic terrorism.” In the last few hours, a protest has been held at the same location where the shooting took occurred. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, contradicted the official version and accused ICE and the Trump administration of “creating chaos.”
