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An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist<\/a> on Wednesday during the Trump administration\u2019s latest immigration crackdown in a major U.S. city \u2014 a shooting that federal officials claimed was an act of self-defense but that the city\u2019s mayor described as \u201creckless\u201d and unnecessary.<\/p>\n Videos taken by bystanders with different vantage points and posted to social media show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The SUV begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the SUV at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him. It was not clear from the videos if the vehicle made contact with the officer. The SUV then sped into two cars parked on a curb nearby before crashing to a stop. <\/p>\n The shooting marks a dramatic escalation of a series of immigration enforcement operations<\/a> in major U.S. cities under the Trump administration. The killing was at least the fifth<\/a> linked to immigration crackdowns in a handful of states since 2024.<\/p>\n The Latest:<\/p>\n Chief Brian O\u2019Hara briefly described the shooting to reporters. Unlike federal officials, O\u2019Hara didn\u2019t say the driver was trying to harm anyone. He said she had been shot in the head.<\/p>\n \u201cThis woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue. … At some point a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive off,\u201d the chief said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor said he\u2019s prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He also said that like many, he is outraged about the killing, which he described as \u201cpredictable\u201d and \u201cavoidable.\u201d But he called for calm.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want a show. We can\u2019t give it to them. We cannot,\u201d the governor said during a news conference.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you protest and express your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully, as you always do. We can\u2019t give them what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n The president, in a social media post, said he\u2019d viewed video footage of the incident and criticized the woman who was shot as acting \u201cvery disorderly, obstructing and resisting\u201d and \u201cthen violently, willfully, and viciously\u201d running over the ICE officer.<\/p>\n The president also described another woman seen screaming in the footage of the incident he viewed as \u201cobviously, a professional agitator.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBased on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital,\u201d Trump said of the ICE officer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE.\u201d<\/p>\n An immigrant rights group says on Facebook that it will hold a vigil for the woman who was shot.<\/p>\n \u201cWe witnessed an atrocious attack on our community today,\u201d read the post from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee. \u201cCommunity members were taken from us and an observer was shot dead. ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA NOW.\u201d<\/p>\n Minnesota initially grabbed President Donald Trump\u2019s and Republicans\u2019 attention over a series of fraud cases<\/a> where many of the defendants had roots in Somalia. Prosecutors say that billions of dollars were stolen from federally funded health care benefits and a COVID-19 program<\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\n Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S., a group Trump called \u201cgarbage\u201d<\/a> in December and said he didn\u2019t want them in the country.<\/p>\n The president has also criticized Democratic Gov. Walz for failing to catch the alleged crimes.<\/p>\n Late last month, a right-wing influencer posted a video claiming that a day care center in Minneapolis run by Somali residents had taken over $100 million in fraud. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel then posted on social media about increased operations in the city<\/a> partly targeting, as Patel put it, \u201clarge-scale fraud schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, DHS said it planned to deploy 2,000 federal agents<\/a> and officers to the Minneapolis area.<\/p>\n In October, a Chicago woman was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in a similar incident involving a vehicle, though she survived.<\/p>\n Almost immediately, Homeland Security officials issued a statement labeling Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old teaching assistant at a Montessori school, as a \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d who had \u201cambushed\u201d and \u201crammed\u201d agents with her vehicle.<\/p>\n She was charged in federal court with assaulting a federal officer, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. But federal prosecutors were later forced to dismiss the case<\/a> against Martinez before trial after security camera video and bodycam footage emerged that her defense lawyers said undermined the official narrative.<\/p>\n The videos showed a Border Patrol agent steering his vehicle into Martinez\u2019s truck, rather than the other way around, her attorney said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen the video. Don\u2019t believe this propaganda machine,\u201d Walz wrote on X, responding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s post alleging that a woman had \u201cweaponized her vehicle\u201d before she was shot and killed by an ICE officer.<\/p>\n The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice,\u201d wrote the governor.<\/p>\n Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney\u2019s Office, says that \u201cWe have jurisdiction to bring charges, as do the feds.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of a complicated interplay but the bottom line is yes, we have jurisdiction to bring criminal charges.\u201d<\/p>\n Secretary Kristi Noem, during a visit to Texas, says it was carried out against ICE officers by a woman who \u201cattempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mayor Frey blasted that characterization as well as the federal deployment in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are not here to cause safety in this city. What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,\u201d Frey said.<\/p>\n The location is just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets in the area and a mile from where George Floyd was killed<\/a> by police in 2020.<\/p>\n During a news conference in Texas on Wednesday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a> confirmed that the agency had deployed more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities and already made \u201chundreds and hundreds\u201d of arrests.<\/p>\n The mayor says in a social media post that immigration agents are \u201ccausing chaos in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are demanding ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities,\u201d Frey said.<\/p>\n The crowd vented its anger at the local and federal officers who were there, including Gregory Bovino<\/a>, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.<\/p>\n In a scene that harkened back to the Los Angeles<\/a> and Chicago<\/a> immigration crackdowns, bystanders heckled the officers and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.<\/p>\n \u201cShame! Shame! Shame!\u201d and \u201cICE out of Minnesota!\u201d they loudly chanted from behind the police tape.<\/p>\n That\u2019s according to a statement from department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.<\/p>\n The shooting marks a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations<\/a> in major American cities under the Trump administration. It\u2019s at least the fifth person killed<\/a> in a handful of states since 2024.<\/p>\n The twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, with more than 2,000 agents and officers expected to participate in the crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents<\/a>.<\/p>\n Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot and killed a motorist acted recklessly. Fry rejected federal officials\u2019 claims that the officer had acted in self-defense.<\/p>\n During a news conference hours after the ICE officer shot the woman, an angry Frey blasted the federal immigration crackdown on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are not here to cause safety in this city. What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,\u201d Frey said. \u201cThey\u2019re ripping families apart. They\u2019re sowing chaos on our streets and in this case quite literally killing people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” the mayor said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n