ICE officer kills Minneapolis driver during immigration operation
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday after a group of people began obstructing agents during an immigration-related operation, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE agents were conducting targeted operations in the city when a woman, 37, allegedly "weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them," Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, News.Az reports, citing NBC news.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for ICE to leave the city in a press conference held in the hours after the shooting.
“What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust. They are ripping families apart, sowing chaos in the streets and, in this case, quite literally killing people," he said. "This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed."
Frey added that there was little he could say to make the current situation better but he had a message for federal immigration agents in the city.
"To ICE, get the f--- out of Minneapolis," the mayor said. "We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some sort of safety and you are doing the opposite."
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a press conference that the agents’ vehicles got stuck in the snow and they were trying to push them out when the woman "attacked them."
"It was an act of domestic terrorism," she said.
The agent fired what McLaughlin said were "defensive shots" and killed the woman.
"He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers," she said.
Frey said it did not appear from video of the incident that the vehicle was being weaponized against the agent.
President Donald Trump has unleashed immigration agents in cities across America, who have been employing increasingly aggressive tactics. The efforts have ramped up tensions with local officials and communities that are increasingly protesting the efforts in some cities.
Video footage from NBC affiliate KARE 11 of Minneapolis showed a burgundy SUV with what appears to be a bullet hole in the windshield. The vehicle had crashed into a light pole. It’s not clear to whom the SUV belongs or from where the bullet was shot.
Brandon Hewitt, who is new to the neighborhood, said he was getting up around 8:30 a.m. when he heard three gunshots. He then looked outside and said he saw that a vehicle had crashed.
"I’m pretty right-leaning, but seeing this, this is not what you need to do," he told KARE. "It’s not how to do it. It’s not how we’re supposed to do things around here in America."
Residents and locals gathered in the street after the shooting, chanting and throwing snowballs in the direction of federal agents, KARE reported. Law enforcement deployed pepper spray and tear gas.
McLaughlin said the ICE officers injured during the incident are expected to make full recoveries. She did not detail what type of injuries the agents sustained.
Since arriving in Minneapolis in early December, ICE officers and agents have arrested roughly 1,400 people, McLaughlin previously said.
That is a significant increase from the roughly 300 arrested by Dec. 12, making it a much larger operation than some of the Border Patrol surge operations in cities such as Charlotte, North Carolina and New Orleans.
McLaughlin also said Border Patrol agents just arrived in Minneapolis and will begin operations there on Wednesday.
Similar news
