A man working for an immigration detention center near Denver was charged with assault on Wednesday after shooting at protesters outside the facility last week, hitting a college student in the foot, according to the authorities and the student, and he was also fired from his job there.
Brandon Booth, 42, is accused of firing a single shot from his personal pistol on July 16 before driving off from the Immigration Customs and Enforcement processing center in Aurora, Colo., operated by his now-former employer, the GEO Group, according to the city police.
Mr. Booth was arrested nearby shortly afterward. He was charged on Wednesday with first-degree assault and attempted assault, according to county prosecutors. A spokesman for the GEO Group, one of the largest private prison operators in the country, said in a statement on Thursday that Mr. Booth had been “terminated” from his job at the facility.
The shooting happened after two women had “initiated a verbal confrontation” with Mr. Booth and other GEO employees who were in a car waiting out a protest that was “impeding” their way into work, according to the police.
Emma Landis, 21, a college student who has regularly protested outside the facility, said in an interview on Thursday evening that one of the employees had appeared particularly bothered and started yelling back in her direction. As Ms. Landis and a friend walked away, the employee fired a shot, hitting her in the foot, she said.
“My leg went really numb and started burning,” Ms. Landis said. “I laid down and there was blood dripping from my foot, and I called 911.”
Mr. Booth appeared in court on Wednesday and as of late Thursday was being held in the Adams County Jail on $100,000 bond, according to a jail employee. It was not immediately clear on Thursday night whether he had a lawyer.
Among the ICE processing centers operated by the GEO Group is Delaney Hall in New Jersey, where federal agents have clashed with people protesting President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Detainees at the center, in Newark, have complained for months about dirty, unhealthy living conditions. Members of Congress have stepped up their criticism of the facility.
Ms. Landis said the demonstrations at Delaney Hall had driven her to join those outside the GEO-operated Aurora facility, which have often brought out much smaller crowds of protesters. She described the shooting as “coming out of nowhere.”
And she planned to return to protests on Thursday on crutches.