Federal officers attempting to arrest an undocumented immigrant in Los Angeles fired shots that injured the immigrant and a U.S. marshal on Tuesday, authorities said.
The shooting happened during what the Department of Homeland Security described as a “targeted traffic enforcement stop,” using “a standard law enforcement procedure.” The details of the technique used were not immediately clear.
The immigrant, who the department said had previously escaped from custody, “weaponized his vehicle and began ramming the law enforcement vehicle in an attempt to flee,” the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement.
Fearing for their safety, the federal officers fired “defensive shots,” McLaughlin said, and the immigrant was struck in the elbow. One of the bullets fired by federal officers ricocheted and hit a law enforcement officer in the hand.
The U.S. Marshals’ office in California’s central district said in a statement that the officer who was injured is a deputy with that agency.
The Department of Homeland Security said both the immigrant and the officer were taken to the hospital. The officer’s condition was listed as stable and the incident is under investigation, according to the statement.
The events unfolded amid heightened tension between federal authorities and local officials and residents in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, where President Donald Trump has particularly ramped up immigration enforcement efforts.
In Chicago last week, a federal judge required immigration officers to wear body cameras and badges after seeing what she described as the aggressive techniques used by some agents. In Los Angeles, county officials voted to declare a state of emergency to help provide assistance for residents who say they have suffered during the immigration raids.
“We have residents afraid to leave their homes, we have constituents contacting my office because their family members never came home and they don’t know if they’ve been taken by ICE or where they’ve been taken,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said, according to The Associated Press.
McLaughlin attributed Tuesday’s incident to the conduct and rhetoric of politicians who she said urge undocumented people to resist arrest.
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