The fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration agent has triggered intense and immediate outrage from local officials.
“I have a message for ICE: Get the f-ck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here,” the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference with other city officials. “Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being torn apart … and now someone is dead.”
The woman was shot while in her vehicle during the ongoing immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Video shared on social media shows agents approaching a car, with one attempting to open the driver’s side door. The car then briefly reverses before starting to drive away, and another officer appears to draw his firearm and fire multiple shots toward it.
Authorities have not yet publicly identified the woman. Police said she appears to be white and a U.S. citizen.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a that the ICE agents were acting in self-defense.
“Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. “An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.”
However, local and state officials have dismissed that explanation. Frey, noting he had seen video of the incident, said that the assertion that the shooting was an act of self-defense is “bullsh-t”
“I myself saw a video of the shots being fired as the car was driving away,” Frey said at the press conference. When asked again by media whether the driver was driving towards an ICE officer on foot, Frey said it did not appear to be the case. “What I can tell you is the narrative that this was just done in self-defense is a false narrative that holds no truth. It is untrue, and this must be stated clearly.”
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar similarly pushed back against DHS.
“I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” the governor on X, responding to a post about the shooting from the department. “The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
“We need full transparency and an investigation into what happened, and I am deeply concerned that statements made by DHS do not appear to reflect video evidence and on-the-ground accounts,” Klobuchar said in a . “While our immigration enforcement should focus on apprehending and prosecuting violent criminals to make our communities safer, these ICE actions are doing the opposite and making our state less safe.”
Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez told that the victim “was an observer” and was “watching out for our immigrant neighbors.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, also present at the press conference, said that the woman in the car was blocking ICE vehicles.
“At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off,” O’Hara said. Two shots were fired, and the vehicle then veered and crashed into the side of the roadway. The woman, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Frey, a Democrat, has been outspoken in arguing that ICE officers in the city have sown “chaos” rather than order. Democratic Sen. Tina Smith joined him in saying that federal immigration agents should leave Minneapolis following the shooting, stating ICE should depart “now for everyone’s safety.”
“We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: you’ve done enough,” Walz said at a press conference with other state officials on Wednesday.
