Updated at 5:50 p.m.: Revised to reflect the timeline of events.

Updated at 3:45 p.m.: Revised to include statement from House Speaker Joe Straus.

AUSTIN — A shoving match and war of words nearly turned into a fistfight on the Texas House floor Monday, the final day of a bitterly contentious 140-day legislative session.

"This session has been very, very difficult," said Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin. "There are enough of us here who remember a time in Texas when respect and decorum ruled the day."

Those rules flew out the House door when a group of protesters crashed the chamber's gallery Monday, chanting opposition to the so-called sanctuary cities ban. Legislators approved a bill this year that would force local governments to enforce federal immigration laws, what opponents call a show-me-your-papers law.

MUCH better video of scuffle on House floor. You can see @poncho_nevarez get in @MattRinaldiTX's face but not what Rinaldi says. #txlege https://t.co/flf1tNMd19 — Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) May 29, 2017

As they protested, Latino Reps. Ramon Romero and Cesar Blanco, both Democrats, waved to the noisy crowd. Republican Matt Rinaldi of Irving, a fervent supporter of the anti-immigration legislation, approached the Latino Democrats. They said Rinaldi told them he had called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report the protesters, who were largely Hispanic.

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The Democrats were enraged. A shoving match ensued, and lawmakers accused one another of making violent threats. Rinaldi said a Democrat eventually threatened to "come get" him. Rep. Justin Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, who didn't witness the initial altercation, said he later heard Rinaldi say, "I'll put a bullet in your head," to the Democrat he alleged was menacing.

"He's a broken person, and I hope his community back home realizes that," Rodriguez said later during a news conference.

In a prepared statement, Rinaldi said he called ICE officials to report the protesters who held signs that declared they were unauthorized immigrants. The protesters became so noisy that security officials escorted many of them from the House gallery. Rinaldi said that he rebuked his colleagues for "inciting" the protesters, "which are illegal," and that the House members threatened him physically.

"I made it clear that if he attempted to, in his words, 'get me,' I would shoot him in self defense," Rinaldi said in the statement he shared on Twitter. "I am currently under DPS protection."

A statement regarding today. pic.twitter.com/M0BcBXa43P — Matt Rinaldi (@MattRinaldiTX) May 29, 2017

Rinaldi left the House floor shortly after the incident, and the door to his office was locked.

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Frisco, said he interrupted the shoving lawmakers when he heard the scuffle.

"This isn't the schoolyard," he said. "I just walked right into the middle, and I was begging them, 'People, please, not on the House floor.' "

Fallon said he was disappointed that frayed nerves had led to such an inappropriate scene among legislators.

"It's sad for the last day of the session to go out like that," he said.

House Speaker Joe Straus, in a prepared statement, said: "There's no excuse for members making insensitive and disparaging remarks on the floor of the Texas House."