The shooting occurred at approximately 9:30 a.m. near East 34th Street and Portland Avenue in a residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, according to multiple witnesses and city officials. The 37-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, was described by city leaders as a legal observer of federal actions and not a target for ICE-related arrest.
Senator Tina Smith confirmed the victim was a U.S. citizen. Witnesses reported that neighborhood alerts sounded via whistles when ICE agents arrived in the area, part of a system established by immigrant rights advocates to monitor federal enforcement presence.
According to witness accounts, multiple federal agents blocked a Honda Pilot. An agent attempted to open the driver’s side door. The motorist put her vehicle into reverse, then into drive. Witnesses reported hearing three shots fired. The Honda traveled several more feet before crashing into another vehicle.
Video posted to social media shows federal vehicles pulling up to cars parked on a suburban street. “Get the f*** out of our neighborhood,” a woman is heard saying on the video.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that ICE officers were conducting targeted operations when “rioters began blocking ICE officers.” McLaughlin characterized the victim as “one of these violent rioters” who “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them — an act of domestic terrorism.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vehemently rejected that characterization during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “I have a message for ICE: Get the f— out of Minneapolis,” Frey said. “They are not here to cause safety in this city. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust. They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” the mayor continued. “Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bullshit. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”
The shooting marks a dramatic escalation of immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration. The woman is at least the fifth person killed by immigration enforcement agents in a handful of states since 2024.
The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the department deployed more than 2,000 agents and officers to the metropolitan area as part of what she called the “largest DHS operation ever.” Noem confirmed that authorities had already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests.
The operation is tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. Trump administration officials have frequently attacked Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the country, as well as Governor Tim Walz and Representative Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American who represents a Minneapolis-based district in Congress.
Hundreds of people gathered at the scene Wednesday, including Mayor Frey, several city council members, and multiple faith leaders. Protesters chanted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota!” from behind police tape. The crowd vented anger at local and federal officers, including Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles and Chicago.
State Senator Omar Fateh reported that he received information a doctor was denied the ability to provide lifesaving CPR by federal law enforcement. Witnesses told reporters the woman was removed from her vehicle and paramedics were seen giving her CPR.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Trump’s decision to send thousands of federal agents to Minnesota is “causing serious harm and spreading terror through our communities.” In a post on social media, Ellison said his “heart goes out” to the woman killed. “Donald Trump’s decision to send thousands of armed ICE agents to Minnesota is causing serious harm and spreading terror throughout our communities,” Ellison wrote. “His reckless decision to escalate the aggression and number of immigration agents is a causal factor, regardless of the outcome of an investigation into this tragic death.”
The shooting occurred just blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets in the area and approximately one mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020.
For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilize in the event of an immigration enforcement surge. Groups have set up active online networks, scanned license plates for possible federal vehicles, and distributed whistles and noise-making devices to alert neighborhoods of any enforcement presence.
The Immigration Defense Network, a coalition of groups serving immigrants in Minnesota, held a training session Tuesday night for approximately 100 people willing to monitor the federal enforcement operation. “I feel like I’m an ordinary person, and I have the ability do something so I need to do it,” Mary Moran told reporters.
Representative Ilhan Omar said she was following news of “a reported shooting of a legal observer by ICE agents in South Minneapolis.”
The area where the shooting occurred is a modest neighborhood that Reverend Hierald Osorto, pastor at St. Paul’s-San Pablo Lutheran Church, described as having a predominantly Latino congregation. “We’ve been trying to live life as fully as possible in light of the fear and anxiety that we feel,” Osorto said.
Mayor Frey issued a statement on social media: “We are demanding ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities.”
Videos of the incident have surfaced online. Viewer discretion is advised.
