Court documents detail connections between TdA, Portland shootings and couple shot by feds
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — New court documents filed in the case against a man shot by a Border Patrol agent in east Portland provided more details on his alleged connection to the Venezuelan transnational gang, Tren de Aragua, and the alleged connections between his passenger – Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras – and other members of TdA, and two shootings in the Portland metro.
Thursday’s immigration enforcement operation stemmed from two cases that happened last July.
The first case took place on July 7. The FBI said two men paid Zambrano-Contreras to go to their apartment in Washington County for prostitution.
Court records said the men held her against her will, before she eventually escaped without her money and belongings.
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Investigators said Zambrano-Contreras went back to the apartment with at least two men who shot at the men who hired Zambrano-Contreras. No one was injured.
Four days later, Portland Police officers responded to a shooting at Northeast 82nd and Sandy Boulevard. The victim told police the people who shot him were connected to Tren de Aragua.
Police collected shell casings at both scenes and said testing proved they were fired from the same gun.
On Aug. 19, police detained both Zambrano-Contreras and Luis Nino-Moncada while serving a search warrant related to the prostitution investigation. Investigators said Zambrano-Contreras admitted to prostitution.
The Washington County District Attorney's Office told KATU it referred the case to federal law enforcement.
Despite public comments stating both are members of TdA, court documents did not explicitly state that, and instead said the two were associates of TdA members.
Investigators are still looking into connections between the pair and the Venezuelan gang.
Right now, Zambrano-Contreras is in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma on an immigration-related criminal charge. Nino-Moncada is charged with assaulting a federal officer and is due back in court on Wednesday.
