Employee of Aurora ICE Processing Center arrested, accused of shooting Colorado protester

An employee of a group that operates a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainment center in Aurora, Colorado, was arrested after police said he shot and wounded a woman Thursday night. 

The shooting happened near the GEO Group's Aurora ICE Processing Center on Thursday evening at 3130 Oakland Street. 

Brandon Booth, 42, is facing charges of assault and attempted second-degree murder in the case. He was arrested in a vehicle on Nome Street less than two blocks from the shooting scene and the vehicle he was in had a gun inside, police said. APD said he is an employee of GEO Group.

Aurora police described the victim as a protester. Various groups have been protesting at different times outside the facility this year. It's not clear at this point what group the protester may have been part of.

In a social media post, Aurora police said the incident unfolded as Booth was waiting in his vehicle along with other employees who were unable to access the facility for their work shifts because of the protest. 

"Two women initiated a verbal confrontation and took pictures of the employees' vehicles before walking away," police said. "At that point, Booth retrieved his personally owned pistol and fired a single shot in their direction, striking one of the women on her lower body. Booth then got into his vehicle and drove out of the area before he was detained."

The woman was shot in the lower part of her body, and her injuries were described as non-life threatening. She has not been identified.

"We are aware that an off-duty Aurora ICE Processing Center employee was involved in a shooting incident," a GEO Group spokesperson said in a statement. "This individual has been placed on unpaid administrative leave, and we will fully cooperate with law enforcement."

CBS Colorado has also reached out to U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, for comment.

In a statement, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain called the shooting a "tragedy on all fronts," adding that his department "will investigate this incident with the same commitment to transparency and integrity as we do all shootings."

"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," he said.

Police are asking anyone who might have footage of the shooting or the aftermath, or who has information about the case that they think might be helpful to investigators, to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867).  

This incident follows two deadly shootings by ICE officers in the past 10 days. On July 7, a 52-year-old Mexican man was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Houston, Texas, while he was driving a work crew to a construction site. ICE later admitted that the victim had not been the intended target of their immigration enforcement operation at the time, and they had been searching for a different person when the shooting occurred. 

Six days later, on July 13, a 25-year-old Colombian man was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine. DHS later disclosed that the shooting also occurred while ICE officers were conducting surveillance on a separate individual.  

Following the two shootings, DHS briefly implemented a pause on most ICE traffic stops. However, on Wednesday, President Trump overturned that pause.