US federal agents shot two people in Portland on Thursday afternoon, police said, adding that they were taken to the hospital and their conditions were not known. The incident comes after immigration agents shot Renee Nicole Good during an ICE enforcement operation on Wednesday, resulting in protests all over the US.
"Two people are in the hospital following a shooting involving federal agents," Portland police stated, saying they were not involved in the incident.
Border Patrol agents were conducting a vehicle stop Tuesday in Portland, Oregon, when the driver "weaponized" the vehicle before an officer "fired a defensive shot," the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday on X/Twitter. DHS said the passenger of the vehicle was the target of the stop.
The statement said 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 was unable to independently verify the circumstances of the incident.
An ABC News affiliate reported that agents involved in the shooting were US Customs and Border Protection agents and that the FBI was leading the probe.
Portland and Oregon leaders said at a news conference Thursday evening that they had no details on what led to the shootings, even whether the violence was linked to immigration enforcement.
While they said the FBI was investigating, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, both Democrats, called for a pause in the federal immigration crackdown pending a full and independent investigation.
"There was a time when we could take them at their word," Wilson said of how federal officials had described the shooting. "That time is long past."
At the same news conference, state Senator Kayse Jama, who arrived in the US 28 years ago as a refugee from Somalia, addressed federal immigration agents: "We do not need you, you are not welcome, you need to get the hell out of our community."
In an earlier statement, Portland police said that the shooting took place near a medical clinic in the eastern part of the city. Six minutes after arriving at the scene and determining federal agents were involved, 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 km) to the northeast of the medical clinic.
Police said they applied tourniquets to the man and woman, who were taken to a hospital. Their condition was unknown.
Portland incident comes after Minneapolis Good's death
According to CNN, on Thursday, 2:18 p.m., Portland police officers responded to a shooting report at Southeast Main Street, confirming that federal agents were involved in the incident.
Then, at 2:24 p.m., officers responded to a man and a woman shot near Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside. The victims were transported to the hospital. At the time, it was not immediately clear why two locations were reported, CNN explains, according to an official release.
“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” said Chief Bob Day. “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.”
"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," police chief Bob Day said.
The shooting occurred after a vehicle driven by Renee Good allegedly moved toward agents, leading to what DHS describes as a shooting in "self-defense."
Video circulating online shows an ICE officer approaching the stopped vehicle and attempting to open the driver’s door before the SUV moves forward. Another officer standing in front of the vehicle then fires multiple shots at close range.
After Renee Nicole Good was shot in Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, on Thursday evening, classified the fatal incident as an "act of domestic terrorism," alleging the driver would have been "stalking, impeding, and blocking" ICE officers for hours leading up to the incident," Fox News reported.
A video released from the scene of the attack shows Renee Good's wife, Rebecca Brown Good, in a distressed situation right after the shooting, saying that she would have encouraged Renee "to attend the location where ICE agents were operating," according to Fox News.
In the video, she can be heard saying, "I made her come down here. It’s my fault."
Noem and US President Donald Trump have framed Good as a "professional agitator" intent on harming agents.
The victim's mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Renee "would never have been part of anything like that," describing her daughter as someone compassionate and non-confrontational.
JD Vance backs up officer involved in Good's shot incident
Less than 24 hours after a federal immigration agent shot a 37-year-old mother in Minnesota, US Vice President JD Vance stood up for the officer involved, blamed the woman who was killed, and said the incident should be a political test ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
At the White House on Thursday, Vance called the death a "tragedy" but spoke in defense of the agent, who was among 2,000 federal officers sent by the Trump administration to the Minneapolis area this week.
The vice president also used social media to question Democratic politicians’ willingness to support law enforcement, a clear partisan shot from a man widely seen as a potential presidential contender in two years.
Early on, =Trump also posted his support of the federal agent and blamed the driver, but in a sudden move, the White House announced that Vance on Thursday would field reporters' questions.
"Attack me, attack the president of the United States. Don't attack our law enforcement officers," Vance said.
After watching the videos, Vance solely blamed the driver.
"What I am certain of is that she violated the law," Vance said when asked by a reporter about doubts in his analysis, "What I'm certain of is that the officer had every reason to think that he was under very serious threat for injury or, in fact, his life."
Vance also took a partisan angle on the shooting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In a Thursday X post, he wrote that "media" should ask "every congressional democrat and every democrat who's running for president" whether they believe the ICE agent "was wrong in defending his life against a deranged leftist who tried to run him over?"