Portland Police Chief Gets Emotional When Confirming Gang Ties in Border Patrol Shooting
Key Highlights
- Two Venezuelan nationals were shot by Border Patrol agents in Portland, with links to the Tren de Aragua gang acknowledged but not fully detailed.
- The incident occurred during a confrontation in a medical office parking lot, with federal officials citing self-defense as the reason for the shooting.
- Authorities are investigating the connection between the individuals and the gang, amid concerns about immigration enforcement practices and community impact.
PORTLAND, Oregon -- Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed Friday that the two people wounded in a shooting by a U.S. Border Patrol officer have some “nexus” to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
He said their names came up during an investigation of a local shooting last summer but that police detectives never identified the man or woman as suspects nor do the two face charges in the case.Day said it wasn’t clear how Luis David Nino-Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras may be connected to the gang, only that “they do have some nexus to involvement with TDA.”
His information proved much less definitive than what a U.S. Homeland Security statement said shortly after Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras were shot and wounded Thursday afternoon in a parking lot encounter with Border Patrol agents.
Federal authorities have described the woman shot as a suspected Tren de Aragua gang associate and the man as a Tren de Aragua gang member.
The Homeland Security statement claims Zambrano-Contreras “played an active role in a Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and was involved with a prior shooting in Portland in July” and that Nino-Moncada was arrested for impaired driving and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Both entered the U.S. illegally from Venezuela, federal officials said.
Day said Zambrano-Contreras had been arrested on a prostitution allegation in Washington County and that Nino-Moncada had been present when investigators served a search warrant in that county.
In a statement, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said local law enforcement last summer referred a case to federal investigators involving alleged human trafficking and firearms offenses. The allegations involved potential violations of federal law so prosecutors forwarded the case to the FBI and federal prosecutors. The DA’s office declined to provide any additional details.
In the summer shooting in Portland, a man who identified himself as a Venezuelan immigrant had reported that someone shot at him July 11 at Northeast 81st Avenue and Mason Street and he identified his attackers as members of the gang. Nino-Moncada’s and Zambrano-Contreras’ names came up during the course of the investigation but they were never identified as suspects in the shooting, Day said.
A Police Bureau’s spokesperson said he couldn’t provide any further details on the circumstances of the July shooting. It’s not clear if anyone was injured.
Day said he released the information to support transparency in a case that has thrust the city and federal immigration enforcement tactics into the national spotlight, but that it “in no way draws a through-line to the actions or the behaviors that occurred yesterday.”
He said Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras were both in stable condition at Portland hospitals after undergoing surgery for their injuries. Nino-Moncada was shot in the arm and Zambrano-Contreras was hit in the chest, he said.
Day said nothing he confirmed about their apparent gang ties should in any way “affirm whatever happened yesterday.”
He became emotional, wiping tears from his eyes as he sought to address the Latino community directly.
“I hesitated to even share this information initially because I’m very aware of the historic injustice of victim blaming often times portrayed by law enforcement,” he said. “I understand, or at least have attempted to understand, your voices, your concern, your fear, your anger. This information in no way is meant to disparage or to condone or support or agree with any of the actions that occurred yesterday.”
Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras were riding in a red Toyota pickup when one or more Customs and Border Protection officers shot them in the parking lot of an Adventist Health medical office building in the 10200 block of Southeast Main Street.
Portland police responded to a 911 call of a shooting there at 2:18 p.m. and found seven or eight federal officers in the lot, Portland Assistant Chief Rob Simon said.
A witness told The Oregonian/OregonLive at the scene that he saw the Toyota enter the lot and federal officers attempt to box it in. A federal officer pounded on the driver’s window of the pickup and the Toyota reversed, striking a car, and moved forward and repeated the action before turning.
That’s when he said he heard about five shots, he said. Another witness reported hearing two shots. Homeland Security officials said an officer shot at the truck in self-defense when it was used as a weapon. They have not said how many officers were present at the time.
The truck sped out of the lot an continued to Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside Street about 40 blocks away, where the driver called 911, saying he and the passenger had been wounded.
Homeland Security officials said Nino-Moncada was in FBI custody. Day said Zambrano-Contreras also was in federal custody. They are not married, federal authorities said.
Neither had been charged with any new crimes as of Friday, according to a federal source.
“They appear to be on the road to recovery, and I’m grateful for that,” Day said.
He declined any comment when asked about Homeland Security’s characterization of the shooting as self-defense. He said he hasn’t seen or requested any of the video or potential body camera footage from the shooting but said Portland police are assisting the FBI.
“We are at the table and we are learning as we go,” he said. “This is new territory for us. Once the investigation is completed, there will be an opportunity to share that information … We need to trust the system, and I understand how flat that can fall with so many people.”
He asked that no one jump to conclusions until completion of the investigation.
“Anytime that we make assumptions or assertions, then we are definitely putting the entire system at risk,” he said. “You’re putting the investigation at risk. You’re putting the legitimacy and the other officers’ safety at risk and you’re certainly putting the community at risk.”
While he noted that immigration enforcement isn’t new in the U.S., he added: “The manner in which it’s being done is certainly new and questionable in terms of its approach and certainly the emphasis is new.”
Day urged people who wish to protest or voice dissent with government actions to do so peacefully. He said he recognized a federal officer’s fatal shooting Wednesday of Renee Good in Minneapolis and now the Portland shooting will “raise the tension and the fear and the angst” of many residents.
“I understand Portland’s fear and frustration. I believe there is legitimacy to that,” he said.
But he asked people to demonstrate in a “calm, peaceful or nonviolent way.” He said Portland police and state police will monitor any protests through the weekend. Police made six arrests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland last night.
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