ICE Detention Center Employee Arrested and Put on Unpaid Leave After Protester Shot in Colorado

Brandon Booth, an employee at the company that operates a federal immigration detention center in Colorado, was arrested Thursday moments after a protester was shot and wounded outside the facility.

Investigators allege Booth, who was off duty at the time, was waiting with other employees outside the Aurora ICE Processing Center, a facility run by private prison contractor GEO Group, when protesters impeded access to the detention center for workers arriving for their shifts.

According to police, two women confronted the employees verbally and photographed their vehicles before walking away. Officers allege Booth then retrieved a personally owned handgun and fired a single shot toward the women, striking one of them in the lower body before driving away. He was detained less than two blocks from the scene, where police said a firearm was recovered from the vehicle.

The injured woman was hospitalized with injuries described as non-life threatening. She has not been publicly identified.

Booth faces multiple charges, including attempted second-degree murder and assault, according to Aurora police.

The shooting unfolded outside a detention center that has been the focus of repeated immigration protests this year, though authorities have not identified the group involved in Thursday’s demonstration.

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

Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain described the incident as “a tragedy on all fronts” and said “violence of any kind will not be tolerated in Aurora.”

“Constitutional rights are a pivotal part of a just society – violence is not,” Chamberlain added.

Watch above via CBS News.

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