By CLAIRE RUSH
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A person shot and wounded by a Border Patrol agent throughout an immigration cease in Portland, Oregon, final week pleaded not responsible Wednesday to aggravated assault on a federal worker and damaging federal property.
Luis David Nino-Moncada’s public defender entered the plea on his behalf throughout a listening to in U.S. District Courtroom. He was indicted on the costs Tuesday and stays in custody, with a launch listening to scheduled for subsequent week. U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Stacie Beckerman set a five-day jury trial for March.
The capturing, which got here in the future after a federal agent shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis, prompted protests over federal brokers’ aggressive ways throughout immigration enforcement operations.
The FBI mentioned in a courtroom submitting that it had discovered no surveillance or different video of the capturing, through which a Border Patrol agent shot and wounded Nino-Moncada and passenger Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras whereas they have been in a pickup truck within the parking zone of a medical advanced. The Division of Homeland Safety has mentioned the 2 folks entered the U.S. illegally and have been affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed final week that the pair had “some nexus” to the gang. He mentioned the 2 got here to the eye of police throughout an investigation of a July capturing believed to have been carried out by gang members however they weren’t recognized as suspects.
Zambrano-Contreras was beforehand arrested for prostitution, Day mentioned, and Nino-Moncada was current when a search warrant was served in that case.
Border Patrol brokers advised investigators that considered one of their colleagues opened hearth after Nino-Moncada put the truck in reverse and repeatedly slammed into an unoccupied automotive the brokers had rented, smashing its headlights and knocking off its entrance bumper.
FBI Particular Agent Daniel Jeffreys wrote in an affidavit supporting the costs that Nino-Moncada used the automobile as a weapon. The brokers feared for their very own security and that of the general public, the doc mentioned.
Zambrano-Contreras was being held Wednesday at a personal immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, in line with an internet detainee locator system maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She faces a cost of unlawful entry into the U.S., which federal prosecutors in Texas filed final week. The federal public defender’s workplace for the Western District of Texas didn’t reply to a request for remark.
