Federal immigration officers from Customs and Border Protection shot and killed a 37-year-old man in south Minneapolis on Saturday morning, drawing hundreds of protesters and Mayor Jacob Frey’s renewed calls for federal agents to leave the city.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed the victim was a 37-year-old white male Minneapolis resident who was believed to be an American citizen. O’Hara said the man had no prior criminal record and was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.
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The shooting occurred around 9 a.m. near Nicollet Avenue and 26th Street in south Minneapolis. Accounts of what transpired differ sharply between federal officials and local authorities.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said agents were conducting a targeted operation against an undocumented immigrant wanted for violent assault when a person approached Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.
McLaughlin said officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted, and fearing for his life an agent fired defensive shots.
The DHS official social media networks continued to push this rhetoric, and the ICE Union placed blame on Minnesota leadership for pushing a negative rhetoric towards their federal officers.
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Mayor Frey said he watched video of the shooting and saw more than six masked agents pummeling one of the city’s constituents and shooting him to death. Frey condemned the shooting and demanded that ICE leave Minneapolis immediately.
The victim died at Hennepin Healthcare. Video circulating on social media appears to show multiple federal agents in a physical altercation with someone on the ground before gunshots ring out.
An angry crowd gathered after the shooting and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them cowards and telling them to go home. Federal agents deployed flash bangs on the crowd, and WCCO reporter Adam Duxter confirmed agents deployed chemical irritants CBS News.
Governor Tim Walz said he spoke with the White House after the shooting. Walz called the shooting horrific and sickening and demanded the president end the operation and pull thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota immediately.
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Senator Amy Klobuchar tweeted that thousands of citizens have been stopped and harassed, local police are no longer able to do their work, and children are hiding with schools closed. Klobuchar called on Republicans in Congress to stop their silence and stop being complicit.
The shooting comes less than three weeks after the January 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fired into her vehicle. Saturday’s shooting occurred one day after tens of thousands of people marched through downtown Minneapolis to protest ICE’s presence in the city.
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The incident marks an escalation in what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest-ever immigration enforcement operation. The city has seen daily protests since Good’s death, with local officials repeatedly calling for federal agents to leave Minneapolis.
Federal agents fatally shot a 37-year-old Minneapolis man on Saturday, the third immigration-enforcement-related shooting in the city this month. Protesters clashed with officers at the scene as local officials again demanded that federal agents leave Minnesota.
This is a developing story.
