Grainy surveillance video shows a new perspective of the circumstances that led to a non-fatal Border Patrol shooting last month in which two people were wounded during a traffic stop in a Portland, Oregon parking lot.
Footage released by Fora Health following a federal subpoena shows a distant, partially restricted view of the altercation in a neighboring health care facility’s parking lot near SE Main St and SE 100th Ave.
A representative for Fora Health said the organization released the footage publicly “in the interest of transparency.”
The footage has no audio.
The enforcement operation
During an enforcement operation on January 8th, federal agents said they were targeting a red truck driven by Luis Niño-Moncada. A woman named Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras was a passenger.
Both people are Venezuelan nationals who are in the United States illegally, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Border Patrol agents were not wearing body cameras, but the surveillance video shows multiple unmarked vehicles following the red pickup truck as it pulled into a parking space in the middle of the afternoon.
Federal agents said four officers approached the vehicle and identified themselves as law enforcement, commanding the driver to exit the vehicle.
Video shows the red truck reversing and maneuvering forward and backward. Agents said the truck slammed into one of their rented vehicles, causing some agents to fear for their safety or the safety of others.
In one court filing an agent said, “the vehicle attempted to run over the Border Patrol agents.”
Another court filing said the vehicle “reversed, colliding with an unoccupied Border Patrol vehicle with enough speed and force to cause significant damage.”
As a result, one agent fired shots, striking Niño-Moncada in the arm and Zambrano-Contreras in the chest. Niño-Moncada drove away from the scene and called 911.
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He was indicted on an Aggravated Assault charge and a Depredation of Federal Property charge. Zambrano-Contreras has since been sentenced to probation for an “Improper Entry by Alien,” charge, a “petty offense,” according to her attorney that is unrelated to the shooting incident.
In a motion to have their client released from custody, Niño-Moncada’s attorneys suggested Niño-Moncada may have been afraid for his own safety when he fled the scene and not trying to hurt anyone when his vehicle struck the border agents’ car.
“Given the facts in this case there is a significant question of whether Mr. Niño-Moncada had any intent to assault or whether he was merely trying to flee,” they wrote. “What is more, the complaint fails to even allege a specific individual who either (a) believed they were about to be hit by the vehicle or (b) Mr. Niño-Moncada intended to hit and missed.”
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The incident happened one day after the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis. Good was inside her vehicle when a federal agent shot and killed her during the massive ICE enforcement operation in town.
“The point is not simply that Border Patrol has used extremely aggressive and controversial tactics, but that these tactics and the widespread reporting about them are creating a climate of abject terror in the immigrant community,” the attorneys, Michael Benson and Peyton Lee, wrote.
