An employee at the Aurora immigration detention facility has been arrested on suspicion of the shooting of a protester near the facility on Thursday, police said.
Brandon Booth, 42, opened fire after two female protesters initiated a “verbal confrontation” with employees who couldn’t get into the facility because of a demonstration taking place outside the center, according to a statement from Aurora police posted to X.
The detention center, located in the 3100 block of Oakland Street, is run by the GEO Group, a contractor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Booth was arrested on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder, first degree assault, attempted first degree assault, felony menacing and unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon, police said.
He was booked into the Adams County jail at 8:57 a.m. on Friday, jail records show.
Booth appeared briefly in court Friday afternoon by video, peering out through a narrow opening in a cell door. He didn’t speak and his attorney, Katie Scruggs, didn’t address the allegations against him.
Scruggs said Booth had worked at the ICE facility for 2 ½ years and in juvenile detention before that. She said Booth was convicted twice of driving under the influence, most recently in 2011. She asked Magistrate Kyle Martelon to set a lower bond than normal since Booth had no criminal history in the last decade.
But Martelon said allegations of shooting at two unarmed protesters required a higher bond and set it at $500,000.
“To say this is a grave risk to our community would be a vast understatement,” Martelon said.
Emma Landis, 21, who was identified in court as a victim, said she was shot in the foot after she and a friend left the main protest and headed into the surrounding neighborhood where they saw four GEO employees leaning on their cars along a street. She said she and her friend took photos of the vehicles’ license plates and yelled at the detention center workers, accusing them of abusing and starving people. The workers yelled back at the women, and both sides engaged in a verbal confrontation, Landis said.
After she turned to leave, Landis said she heard noises and then felt her foot go numb.
“I had my back turned on (the shooter), and he shot me in the foot,” said Landis, a restaurant server who will start college in the fall.
She said she lay on the street and called 911 for help. SWAT police officers quickly arrived to help her.
Landis said she has participated in protests outside the Aurora detention center before and views the guards as being responsible for the poor treatment she said detainees are given.
“We don’t want this anymore. We don’t want it here, get it out,” she said of the center.
Destiny Winter, who said she used to be married to Booth’s brother, said Booth has a history of being aggressive and mistreating anyone he perceives as weaker, including women. In 2015, she said Booth gave her a concussion by throwing her against a wall after she asked him to turn down the television because there were children sleeping. When he ignored her, she said, she took a pillow that he was using. He then got up and slammed her into the wall, she said.
“He goes above and beyond to show he’s in charge. He’s the king,” said Winter, who said she separated from Booth’s brother shortly after the incident.
Prosecutors did not mention the case in court when lawyers discussed Booth’s background.
The GEO Group said in an emailed statement that the shooting happened while Booth was off duty.
“This individual has been placed on unpaid administrative leave, and we will fully cooperate with law enforcement,” the company said.
Aurora police’s details of the shooting match much of what Landis told The Sun.
Police said the shooting occurred sometime before 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, when officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 3100 block of North Nome Street. Officers found the victim shot in her lower body.
An initial investigation found that the victim and another woman had been participating in a protest outside the detention facility, police said. Booth was waiting in his vehicle along Nome Street with other workers, unable to get by protestors and enter the complex to start their work shifts, police said.
The victim and another protestor were taking photos of employees’ vehicles and initiated a “verbal confrontation,” police said.
The women walked away before police said Booth retrieved a pistol he owned and fired a single shot in their direction, striking the victim.
Booth drove away before being detained nearby, police said.
The Colorado Sun sent a request for comment to Booth in the jail through an Adams County sheriff’s sergeant on Friday afternoon.