Federal investigators said Monday they found no surveillance footage or body-camera recordings of a Border Patrol agent shooting two people in a Portland, Oregon, parking lot last Thursday during an immigration enforcement operation, as prosecutors charged the driver with aggravated assault and property damage. None of the six agents present was recording body-camera footage, and the FBI has uncovered no surveillance video from the scene, according to a court affidavit filed Monday. The driver, Luis David Nino-Moncada, appeared in federal court Monday afternoon and was ordered held in detention pending a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
Federal investigators said Monday they had found no surveillance footage or body-camera recordings of a Border Patrol agent shooting two people in a Portland, Oregon, parking lot last Thursday during an immigration enforcement operation, as prosecutors charged the driver with aggravated assault and property damage.
None of the six agents present was recording body-camera footage, and the FBI has uncovered no surveillance video from the scene, FBI Special Agent Daniel Jeffreys wrote in an affidavit filed Monday in federal court in Portland. The document did not identify the agent who fired the shots.
The absence of video leaves investigators relying on agent accounts alone as the FBI continues to interview witnesses to the Jan. 9 shooting, which wounded two Venezuelan nationals and prompted protests over federal agents’ tactics during immigration enforcement operations across multiple cities.
What agents said happened
According to accounts provided to investigators, the driver put a pickup truck in reverse and repeatedly slammed it into an unoccupied car the agents had rented, smashing the car’s headlights and knocking off its front bumper. The agents said they feared for their own safety and for the safety of the public.
The FBI has interviewed four of the six agents present.
After being read his rights, the driver, Luis David 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,” Jeffreys wrote in the affidavit.
Charges and court appearance
Nino-Moncada was shot in the arm and abdomen. The pickup truck drove away from the scene, which was located in a medical office building parking lot. Nino-Moncada called 911 after arriving at a nearby apartment complex and was placed in FBI custody after receiving treatment.
He appeared Monday afternoon in federal court in Portland, wearing a white sweatshirt and sweatpants and holding his left arm at an angle. A court interpreter translated the judge’s comments. The judge ordered him held in detention and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Wednesday.
His passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, was shot in the chest. As of Monday she was held at a private immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, according to the ICE detainee locator system. She faces a charge of illegal entry filed by federal prosecutors in Texas.
Gang affiliations alleged
The Department of Homeland Security said both are Venezuelan nationals who entered the United States illegally — Nino-Moncada in 2022 and Zambrano-Contreras in 2023. DHS identified Nino-Moncada as an associate of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and Zambrano-Contreras as involved in a prostitution ring run by the gang.
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 local police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, though neither was identified as a suspect. Zambrano-Contreras was previously arrested for prostitution, Day said, and Nino-Moncada was present when a search warrant was served in that case.
Official responses
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the federal charges against Nino-Moncada in a news release Monday. “Anyone who crosses the red line of assaulting law enforcement will be met with the full force of this Justice Department,” Bondi said.
Oregon Federal Public Defender Fidel Cassino-DuCloux, whose office represents Nino-Moncada, said in a statement last week that the shooting and the accusations “follow a well-worn playbook that the government has developed to justify the dangerous and unprofessional conduct of its agents.”
Broader context
The Portland shooting occurred one day after a federal agent shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis and contributed to protests over what critics have described as aggressive federal tactics during immigration enforcement operations.