FBI says it has found no video of Border Patrol agent shooting 2 people
in Oregon
[January 13, 2026]
By CLAIRE RUSH and GENE JOHNSON
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The FBI said in a court document made public
Monday that it had found no surveillance or other video of a Border
Patrol agent shooting and wounding two people in a pickup truck during
an immigration enforcement operation in Portland, Oregon, last week.
Agents told investigators that one of their colleagues opened fire
Thursday after the driver put the truck in reverse and repeatedly
slammed into an unoccupied car the agents had rented, smashing its
headlights and knocking off its front bumper. The agents said they
feared for their own safety and that of the public, the document said.
The FBI has interviewed four of the six agents on the scene, the
document said. It did not identify the agent who fired the shots.
The shooting, which came one day after a federal agent shot and killed a
driver in Minneapolis, prompted protests over federal agents’ aggressive
tactics during immigration enforcement operations. The Department of
Homeland Security has said the two people in the truck entered the U.S.
illegally and were affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
None of the six agents was recording body camera footage, and
investigators have uncovered no surveillance or other video footage of
the shooting, FBI Special Agent Daniel Jeffreys wrote in an affidavit
supporting aggravated assault and property damage charges against the
driver, Luis David Nino-Moncada.
The truck drove away after the shooting, which occurred in the parking
lot of a medical office building. Nino-Moncada called 911 after arriving
at an apartment complex several minutes away. He was placed in FBI
custody after being treated for a gunshot wound to the arm and abdomen.
During an initial appearance Monday afternoon in federal court in
Portland, he wore a white sweatshirt and sweatpants and appeared to hold
out his left arm gingerly at an angle. An interpreter translated the
judge’s comments for him. The judge ordered that he remain in detention
and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Wednesday.
The agent’s affidavit said that after being read his rights, Nino-Moncada
“admitted to intentionally ramming the Border Patrol vehicle in an
attempt to flee, and he stated that he knew they were immigration
enforcement vehicles.”
His passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, was hospitalized
after being shot in the chest and on Monday was being held at a private
immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, according to an
online detainee locator system maintained by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. She faces a charge of illegal entry into the U.S.,
which federal prosecutors in Texas filed last week. The federal public
defender's office for the Western District of Texas did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
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Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that
federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland,
Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras are Venezuela nationals and
entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and 2023, respectively, the
Department of Homeland Security said. It identified Nino-Moncada as
an associate of Tren de Aragua and Zambrano-Contreras as involved in
a prostitution ring run by the gang.
“Anyone who crosses the red line of assaulting law enforcement will
be met with the full force of this Justice Department,” Attorney
General Pam Bondi said Monday in a news release announcing charges
against Nino-Moncada. “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.”
Oregon Federal Public Defender Fidel Cassino-DuCloux, whose office
represents Nino-Moncada, said in a statement last week that the
shooting and the accusations against Nino-Moncada “follow a
well-worn playbook that the government has developed to justify the
dangerous and unprofessional conduct of its agents.”
Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed last week that the pair had
“some nexus” to the gang. Day said the two came to the attention of
police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have
been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as
suspects.
Zambrano-Contreras was previously arrested for prostitution, Day
said, and Nino-Moncada was present when a search warrant was served
in that case.
___
Johnson reported from Seattle.
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