|Published: Jan. 08, 2026, 5:39 p.m.
Adventist Health Portland in Southeast Portland on Jan. 8, 2026.Allison Barr/The Oregonian
By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents shot and wounded a man and a woman Thursday afternoon in a medical clinic parking lot near Adventist Medical Center in Southeast Portland, authorities and witnesses said.
By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents shot and wounded a man and a woman Thursday afternoon in a medical clinic parking lot near Adventist Medical Center in Southeast Portland, authorities and witnesses said.
One was shot in the leg and the other in the chest, Portland police sources said. They are believed to be a married couple. Police said they didn’t know their immediate conditions.
The shooting occurred about 2:25 p.m. near the 10000 block of Southeast Main Street, the FBI said in a statement to their X account that was deleted shortly after.
“This remains and active and ongoing investigation led by the FBI,” the statement said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, said agents were trying to make a traffic stop and characterized the shooting as self-defense.
She said the person agents tried to stop was a “Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who had been involved in a recent shooting in Portland. Another person was in the car, too, she said.
“When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents,” she said. “Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot. The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene. This situation is evolving, and more information is forthcoming.”
She didn’t release any names.
Japhet De Oliveira, a spokesperson for Adventist Health, said police responded to the shooting in the Adventist Health Portland campus in an area with several clinics and offices.
Tina Henderson, who works in the medical office at the shooting scene, said someone ran into her suite and said, “You guys, be careful. There was just a shooting in the parking lot.”
“This remains and active and ongoing investigation led by the FBI,” the statement said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, said agents were trying to make a traffic stop and characterized the shooting as self-defense.
She said the person agents tried to stop was a “Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who had been involved in a recent shooting in Portland. Another person was in the car, too, she said.
“When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents,” she said. “Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot. The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene. This situation is evolving, and more information is forthcoming.”
She didn’t release any names.
Japhet De Oliveira, a spokesperson for Adventist Health, said police responded to the shooting in the Adventist Health Portland campus in an area with several clinics and offices.
Tina Henderson, who works in the medical office at the shooting scene, said someone ran into her suite and said, “You guys, be careful. There was just a shooting in the parking lot.”
A man who was at the medical building said he saw federal officers follow a Toyota truck into the parking lot of the office building and try to corner it.
One officer pounded on the window, he said. The driver then backed up and moved forward at least a couple of times, striking a car behind him, before turning and speeding off, said the man who gave only his first name. It’s not clear if the car the truck hit belonged to the federal officers.
Officers fired about five shots at the truck as it left, the witness said.
Portland police said they received two calls — one at the medical office and then one in Northeast Portland, where they found a man and woman with gunshot wounds at Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside.
“Officers applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel,” police said in a statement. “The patients were transported to the hospital.”
Police Chief Bob Day urged residents to stay calm “as we work to learn more.”
“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” he said. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis.”
On Wednesday, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman who had been observing immigration agents when they said she pulled forward in her car.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson decried the shootings and called on federal immigration officials “to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”
“Just one day after the horrific violence in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents, our community here in Portland is now grappling with another deeply troubling incident,” Wilson said in a statement.
“We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences,” he said.
News of the shooting abruptly halted the Portland City Council public session with Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney saying “we need to recess the meeting immediately.”
A source told The Oregonian/OregonLive that city councilors were then informed, by the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management deputy director, of a shooting suspected to involve immigration enforcement agents.
A spokesperson for Gov. Tina Kotek said her office was in touch with Portland officials but declined to comment further.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who successfully fought the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, said he was “deeply troubled” by the shooting.
“We have been clear about our concerns with the excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland, and today’s incident only heightens the need for transparency and accountability,” he said. “Oregonians deserve clear answers when people are injured in their neighborhoods.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
Shane Dixon Kavanaugh covers Portland City Hall for The Oregonian/OregonLive and previously wrote about crime and criminal justice issues for the paper. His political and investigative reporting has won numerous national, state and regional awards.
Shane Dixon Kavanaugh covers Portland City Hall for The Oregonian/OregonLive and previously wrote about crime and criminal justice issues for the paper. His political and investigative reporting has won numerous national, state and regional awards.
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