A federal grand jury late Tuesday afternoon returned a two-count indictment against Luis David Nino-Moncada, the man wounded by a Border Patrol officer last week in the parking lot of a medical office in Southeast Portland.
Federal prosecutors moved quickly to bring the case before a grand jury after Nino-Moncada’s initial appearance in court a day earlier.
The indictment charges Nino-Moncada, 33, with the same two allegations first filed against him in a federal complaint: aggravated assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon — his red Toyota Tacoma pickup - and damaging federal property in excess of $1,000.
The indictment makes a probable cause hearing that was set for Wednesday afternoon unnecessary and spares the government from calling federal law enforcement officers to testify, where they would face cross-examination from defense lawyers about the confrontation that led to the shooting.
If the hearing had gone forward, Assistant Federal Public Defenders Michael Benson and Peyton Lee planned to argue that the federal government lacked probable cause to show Nino-Moncada either “intentionally” used his truck as a weapon or “willfully” tried to hit an officer, according to a court filing.
A release hearing for Nino-Moncada is still likely to be held Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman.
Federal prosecutors contend Nino-Moncada attempted to assault a Border Patrol officer when he rammed his truck into an unoccupied federal rental car several times after federal officers demanded that he and his passenger exit the pickup during a stop in the medical office’s parking lot.
The encounter occurred about 2 p.m. Thursday when six Border Patrol officers in four unmarked cars followed Nino-Moncada’s pickup into the parking lot of the Adventist Health Medical Office 3 building at 10201 S.E. Main St., to take him and his passenger into custody.
Four of the six federal officers interviewed by the FBI said they approached the pickup, identified themselves as law enforcement officers and demanded the driver and his passenger, 32-year-old Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, get out of the truck.
Instead, Nino-Moncada repeatedly reversed the pickup and struck an unoccupied black sedan rental car before one of the officers fired twice into the driver’s window of the pickup, striking Nino-Moncada in the arm and Zambrano-Contreras in the chest, according to the FBI.
The wounded pickup driver sped out of the lot and drove about three miles to an apartment complex on Northeast 146th Avenue, just north of East Burnside.
Nino-Moncada then called 911 to report that he and his passenger had been shot. Portland police responded to the apartment complex and put a tourniquet on Nino-Moncada’s arm before ambulances took him and Zambrano-Contreras to separate hospitals.
Federal officers said they were targeting Zambrano-Contreras because they suspected she was involved in a prostitution ring run by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. They also described Nino-Moncada as a member of the gang. Both are in the U.S. illegally, according to the FBI.
Their defense lawyers contend that Homeland Security officials are blaming the victims for a federal officer’s unjustified shooting.
Nino-Moncada’s assault case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut.
Zambrano-Contreras, 32, was moved Saturday from Legacy Emanuel Medical Center to the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Tacoma.
She is expected to make her first appearance in federal court in Portland later this week on an allegation of illegal entry into the U.S. in 2023 before having to appear in federal court in Texas, where the complaint was filed.
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