A 911 recording and police report show that an armed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Northeast Portland threatened to shoot a young person he said was following his unmarked SUV. The confrontation unfolded around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 31 and stretched on for several tense minutes as the officer, identified in records as Israel D. Hernandez, stayed on the line with dispatchers and rattled off nearby intersections. Hernandez ultimately did not fire his weapon, but Portland police later wrote that there was probable cause for misdemeanor second degree criminal mischief and second degree disorderly conduct.
According to OPB, Hernandez told a 911 dispatcher, "I need someone here now, or else I'm going to have to shoot this kid," as a person he said was riding a motorized bicycle punched at his vehicle. OPB obtained a roughly five-minute recording of the call and a Portland Police Bureau report that corroborate the encounter. The person Hernandez described was not identified in records and left the scene, the report says.
How the 911 call unfolded
During the call, Hernandez removed his service weapon from the SUV's center console and told dispatchers he planned to get out of the vehicle. The dispatcher urged him instead to drive away toward a more populated area. Shouting can be heard in the background of the audio before the line disconnects after several minutes. Police records show the first responding officer arrived at the scene roughly around 4 p.m. Officers later noted damage to the SUV in their report, including a broken side view mirror.
Where this fits in Portland's broader debate
The episode lands in the middle of an already heated local fight over federal immigration enforcement in Portland, where city leaders have repeatedly pushed back on deployments of armed federal agents. After a Jan. 8 incident in which Customs and Border Protection agents shot and wounded two people, city officials publicly demanded a pause to ICE operations, according to a Portland news release. Local outlets reported that the shooting prompted protests and calls for independent reviews.
Legal and accountability questions
Portland police wrote in their report that there was probable cause for second degree criminal mischief and second degree disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. It was not clear whether prosecutors filed charges, according to OPB. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to multiple questions about whether it knew of the incident or about Hernandez's status, the article says. That leaves open whether the case will result in local charges, an internal agency inquiry, or both.
What comes next
Community groups and advocates who monitor federal enforcement in Portland say the dispatch records highlight longstanding concerns about transparency and the use of force, as local reporting has documented. Willamette Week chronicled the January shooting and the public outcry that followed. Whether this newly disclosed recording prompts fresh action from prosecutors, city officials, or federal overseers remains an open question.
