Jan. 12 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors on Monday charged one of two people shot by a federal immigration agent last week, accusing the man of ramming his vehicle into an unoccupied Border Patrol car multiple times.
The shooting of Luis Nino-Moncada, 33, and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, 32, in Portland, Ore., on Thursday afternoon, has sparked protests in the city and raised already-high concerns in the nation over federal law enforcement agents using unlawful force. A day earlier, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in Minneapolis.
The federal government has accused Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras of involvement in the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which the Trump administration has stepped up law enforcement efforts against in recent months, with U.S. officials linking the group to drug and human trafficking into the United States.
Federal authorities said that the shooting occurred following “a targeted vehicle stop.”
Prosecutors on Monday said the vehicle belonged to its passenger, Zambrano-Contreras, whom authorities accuse of being involved in a TdA prostitution ring and a recent shooting stemming from a bad prostitution deal.
When Border Patrol agents demanded Nino-Moncada to exit the vehicle, he allegedly placed the vehicle in reverse, hitting an unoccupied Border Patrol cruiser.
He allegedly performed the forward-reverse maneuver multiple times, repeatedly striking the federal car.
A Border Patrol agent told the FBI that he feared he and his fellow federal agents could be struck by the car.
Nino-Moncada has been charged with aggravated assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and depredation of federal property in excess of $1,000.
“Anyone who crosses the red line of assaulting law enforcement will be met with the full force of the Justice Department,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
“This man — an illegal alien with ties to a foreign terrorist organization — should NEVER have been in our country to begin with, and we will ensure he NEVER walks free in America again.”
The Justice Department statement announcing the charges does not mention that both Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras were shot during the interaction. Homeland Security previously said the agent fired a “defensive shot” while fearing for his life.
According to the Portland Police Department, Nino-Moncada called police a few minutes after the shooting, with officers arriving to at the location to find him and Zambrano-Contreras suffering from gunshot wounds and transported them to the hospital.
Federal immigration authorities said both were in the country illegally.
The shooting drew anger from local officials who also raised questions over the federal government’s description of what happened following its characterization of the shooting death of Good as defensive and their characterization of her as a domestic terrorist.
“We know what the federal government says happened,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said following the shooting of Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras.
“There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time has passed.”
The Oregon Department of Justice has launched a formal investigation into the shooting.
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