An individual working for a private prison contractor has been charged in connection with a shooting that injured a protester outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Colorado, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
District Attorney Brian Mason charged Brandon Booth, who has been fired from his job by detention center operator GEO Group, with assault and attempted assault. Booth allegedly discharged his personally owned weapon on July 16 near protesters outside an ICE facility in Aurora, Colorado, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by local media including news station Denver7.
Aurora police said Booth fired a round between two demonstrators and hit one, Emma Landis, in the foot. Booth left the scene in his vehicle but was apprehended by police, who said in the affidavit that Booth realized the incident had been caught on cameras and that he had “done some dumb shit.”
Booth said was attempting to scare the protestors, who were blocking employees from entering, according to CBS News.
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He told police that as Landis and the other demonstrator walked by, they said, “We got your license plate, we’re gonna run you down, we’re gonna have people at your kids’ school.” Booth said his anger grew to “a 15 out of 10,” after hearing the comment.
Several days after receiving medical treatment for her injuries, Landis returned to the ongoing protest outside of the ICE facility, Colorado Public Radio reported.
“I will continue to advocate for this stuff,” she said in an interview with More Perfect Union. “I got shot for it. I care.”
The incident in Aurora follows a pair of fatal shootings in Texas and Maine by federal immigration agents. In both shootings, the individuals were killed in their vehicles.
Booth is facing two felonies, with the assault charge carrying a sentence of 10 to 32 years in prison under Colorado law.
“We can confirm that Mr. Booth has been terminated and is no longer an employee at the Aurora ICE Processing Center,” a spokesperson for GEO Group said in a statement. “We will continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement.”
The company had told NBC News on Friday that Booth had been placed on unpaid administrative leave.
Booth’s next court date is scheduled for Aug. 13.
This story has been updated with a new statement from GEO Group.
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