An employee at an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, has been arrested on suspicion of shooting a protester while off duty on Thursday.
The Aurora Police Department said in a press release that they responded to reports of a shooting around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. When police arrived at the scene, there were two women, one who had been shot in her lower body and another who was unharmed. The woman who was shot has been treated for a “non-life-threatening” injury. The police department did not release their names.
APD claimed that the women had been participating in a protest near the Aurora ICE Processing Center that had blocked employees from being able to enter the facility. The women supposedly “initiated a verbal confrontation” and photographed the employees’ cars.
Brandon Booth, a 42-year-old GEO Group employee, is accused of taking out his “personally owned pistol,” shooting one of the women, then driving off.
Police also stated that additional officers stopped Booth in a car “a short distance away,” seized a gun that was found in the car and detained him.
Booth was booked just before 9 a.m. on Friday, according to jail records. He was booked on probable cause of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, felony menacing and unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon.
His bond has been set at $500,000.
An attorney for Booth told The Colorado Sun that Booth worked at the facility for 2.5 years and had previously been convicted of driving while under the influence, most recently in 2011. JS reached out for comment but did not immediately hear back.
“This is a tragedy on all fronts, and the Aurora Police Department will investigate this incident with the same commitment to transparency and integrity as we do all shootings,” Aurora Chief of Police Todd Chamberlain said in a press release on Friday. “We remain committed to ensuring an ethical, thorough, objective, and comprehensive review of this case. Violence of any kind will not be tolerated in Aurora. Constitutional rights are a pivotal part of a just society – violence is not.”
GEO Group, which runs the Aurora processing center and many others, confirmed to JS that an off-duty employee was involved in a shooting and subsequently placed on unpaid administrative leave.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) condemned the shooting on Friday.
“ICE and their contractors are completely out of control. Everyone has the right to protest peacefully without fear of violence,” Hickenlooper said in an online statement. “We’re keeping the victim of this shooting in our thoughts, and we will keep fighting to end this lawlessness and instill accountability.”
Protests against inhumane conditions and treatment at the facility have been occurring for years. Criticism of the facility has also emerged as of late because of a possible tuberculosis outbreak. Advocates have pushed officials to investigate, Colorado Newsline reported.
The Aurora Police Department declined JS’s request for additional comment.