Two people were shot and wounded by US federal agents in Portland, Oregon, authorities said. It comes a day after a US citizen was shot dead in Minneapolis, sparking major protests.

Two people were shot and wounded by US Border Patrol officers in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Portland police said officers responding to emergency calls found a man and a woman with apparent gunshot wounds.

“Two people are in the hospital following a shooting involving federal agents,” Portland police ⁠said in a statement. Their conditions were not immediately known.

Local police stressed that their officers were not involved in the incident.

What did authorities say?

The FBI said it was probing the shooting in which the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents were involved.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson urged residents to remain calm in a statement, and called for another agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE), “to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

The ‌Department ⁠of Homeland Security, which oversees both CBP and ICE, claimed on social media that the Portland driver “weaponized” ⁠the vehicle during a ⁠”targeted vehicle ‍stop” and the agent “fired ‌a defensive shot.”

The department alleged one of the passengers was a ” Venezuelan illegal alien” that was “affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring.”

Oregon officials order probe into shooting

Oregon officials said they could not verify the federal account of the incident.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield pledged to investigate “whether any federal officers acted outside their authority.” Governor Tina Kotek has called for a full probe into the shooting.

There was no immediate independent corroboration of that account or of any gang affiliation of the vehicle’s occupants.

Officials from both ICE and Border Patrol have been deployed in cities across the US as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The shooting comes a day after a US citizen was shot dead by ICE in Minneapolis, sparking major protests there and elsewhere.

Edited by: Zac Crellin

DW News