US border agent shoots, wounds two people, day after deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis

A US immigration agent shot and wounded a man and a woman in Portland, Oregon, authorities say, leading local officials to call for calm given public outrage over the ICE shooting death of a Minnesota woman a day earlier.

“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 police chief Bob Day says in a statement.

The Portland shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon as US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop, the Department of Homeland Security says in a statement.

The statement says the driver, a suspected Venezuelan gang member, attempted to “weaponize” his vehicle and run over the agents. In response, DHS said, “an agent fired a defensive shot” and the driver and a passenger drove away.

Reuters is unable to independently verify the circumstances of the incident.

Portland police say that the shooting took place near a medical clinic in eastern Portland. Six minutes after arriving at the scene and determining federal agents were involved in the shooting, police were informed that two people with gunshot wounds – a man and a woman – were asking for help at a location about 2 miles (3 kilometers) to the northeast of the medical clinic.

Police say they applied tourniquets to the man and woman, who were taken to a hospital. Their condition was unknown.