A woman was shot dead on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis while attempting to run over agents attempting to enforce immigration law, according to the Trump administration.
The woman can be seen in video captured by eye witnesses quickly driving away from the scene when approached by officers. One officer who was in front of her vehicle jumped out of her way, avoiding being run over.
The incident happened during an anti-ICE protest. Law enforcement deployed tear gas and pepper spray as the agitators encroached on their immigration operations.
President Donald Trump reacted to the shooting, accusing the woman killed of “violently, willfully, and viciously” running over the officer. He said the situation is being “studied,” and that the officer is “recovering in the hospital.” Based on video footage, the officer was able to walk away from the incident.
Trump did not mention if there would be a federal investigation.
The shooting came as anti-ICE activists swarmed the streets, attempting to block federal agents from conducting immigration enforcement activities.
“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,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
She said the ICE officer fired the “defensive shots” because he was “fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement, and the safety of the public.” The Trump administration credited the agent for “using his training and saving his own life and that of his fellow officers.”
Local reports cite an eyewitness saying the woman was not trying to ram officers with her vehicle, but instead stopped to monitor the immigration enforcement activities before being swarmed by agents. When she tried to turn around, the eyewitness said, an ICE officer leaned over the hood and shot her in the face “like three, four times.” Video footage of the scene indicated the car’s airbags, which were bloodied, had been deployed, and armed federal agents gathered around the vehicle.
The matter has already split officials, with liberals blaming the incident on ICE and suggesting that the federal presence is provoking the violence, and conservatives are saying the death is “the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey swiftly blamed the incident on ICE officers, telling them to “get the f*** out of Minneapolis” during a press conference addressing the incident. He disputed the Trump administration’s characterization of the killing as self-defense, calling the argument “bulls***,” based on his belief that it did not appear that the woman was “trying to ram anybody.”
Frey said he is holding off on pursuing charges against the unnamed ICE officer who pulled the trigger as the investigation plays out, while saying it “does not appear to be the case at all” that the woman was driving the car toward agents. He also warned protestors on Wednesday to meet “hate with love.”
“We’re going to make sure that in this very difficult moment, we do not take the bait that these ICE agents are trying to create and that the federal government, to be clear, wants. They want us to respond in a way that creates a military occupation in our city. They want an excuse to come in and show the kind of force that will create more chaos and more despair. Let’s not let them,” the mayor said. “Let’s show up with peace to march, to protest, to hug one another, to love. All the way with peace. Do not give them what they want.”
Minneapolis’s Police Chief Brian O’Hara said officers responded to the scene and found a “middle-aged white woman” with a gunshot wound to her head. First responders took the woman to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.
O’Hara appeared to toe the line on whether the killing was justified as he delivered details about the incident alongside Frey. The police chief said the woman was “blocking the street” with her vehicle and was not the target of any enforcement activity.
“It’s obviously very concerning whenever there’s a shooting into a vehicle of someone who’s not armed. But it also is something that is possible. At times, it is justified. But it is very concerning,” he said.
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) said his team is investigating the matter.
TRUMP TO DEPLOY 2,000 ICE OFFICERS TO MINNEAPOLIS AS FRAUD INVESTIGATION WIDENS
The incident occurred as ICE and federal partners conducted a sweeping operation in Minnesota this week that led to more than 1,000 arrests, including alleged murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and gang members.
The DHS operation responded to accusations of widespread fraud in the state, attributed largely to Somali-born residents.
