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A U.S. immigration agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, sparking a war of words with local officials rejecting the Trump administration’s claims it was self-defense.
The Department of Homeland Security said the woman, Renee Nicole Good, was a “violent rioter” who tried to run over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, “This was a reckless use of authority by an agent that resulted in someone’s death,” and used profanity to demand that ICE officers leave the city.
Hundreds of ICE agents have been deployed to the city as part of the White House’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.
Video posted to social media by bystanders appeared to show the moments of the shooting, which occurred around 10:25 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
A maroon SUV can be seen blocking a residential street in Minneapolis from various vantage points.
A group of people stood on the sidewalk, seemingly protesting.
Law enforcement vehicles appeared nearby. The immigration officer pulled up to the vehicle on the side of the road, got out of the truck and told the woman in the driver’s seat to get out. An agent pulled on the driver’s door handle.
Another agent was located near the front of the vehicle.
It was unclear exactly how close the agent was standing or whether he was hit by the vehicle, according to the video, which was immediately reviewed by the BBC.
As the maroon SUV tried to drive away, the agent opened fire.
Three pops are heard and the vehicle can be seen losing control and hitting a car parked nearby along the street.
Trump posted on Truth Social that an ICE officer was “viciously” run over. “It’s hard to believe he’s still alive but now recovering in the hospital,” he wrote.
The Republican president also accused the “radical left” of “threatening, attacking and targeting our law enforcement and ICE agents every day.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the driver was in the car, blocking the road on Portland Avenue. A federal law enforcement officer then approached her on foot and “she began to drive away.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the woman had been “stalking and impeding” police officers throughout the day and attempted to “arm her vehicle” in an attempt to run over officers in an act of “domestic terrorism.”
Noem said the federal agent fired a “defensive shot” and was wounded himself, before being treated and released from a local hospital.
However, the Minneapolis City Council said in a statement that Goode was simply “caring for her neighbors” when she was shot.
The agent was also hit by a car in June while on duty, Noem said.
She added that ICE operations in the city would continue and the FBI would investigate Wednesday’s incident.
Getty ImagesEmily Heller told CNN she was at home when she saw ICE agents arguing with protesters outside. She said she heard agents yelling at a woman driving an SUV, then an agent tried to open her door and the driver backed up and started driving away.
“An ICE agent walked up to her car and said, ‘Stop!’ and then — I mean, she was already moving — and then, point blank, shot her in the face through the windshield,” Heller told USA Network.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also disputed the federal version of events.
“Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” Walz wrote in response to a Department of Homeland Security post about the shooting.
“The state will ensure a full, fair and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
Top Democrats including former Vice President Kamala Harris and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also issued statements. Harris called the Trump administration’s version of events “gaslighting.”
Protests and arrests took place in several areas of the city, with some angry Minneapolis residents denouncing the shootings and demanding that ICE withdraw.
The main rally took place near the scene of the shooting, about a mile from where George Floyd was murdered by city police in 2020, sparking anti-racism protests around the world.
Protests were also organized in other U.S. cities, including New Orleans, Miami, Seattle and New York City.
Minneapolis Public Schools announced that classes are canceled for the remainder of the week “due to safety concerns.” Federal agents reportedly arrested them Wednesday outside a high school.
Why is ICE located in Minneapolis?
The Trump administration has deployed 2,000 additional federal agents to the Minneapolis area in recent weeks to respond to allegations of welfare fraud in the state.
The mayor said at a news conference Wednesday that ICE does not make the city safer. “They’re tearing families apart, they’re causing chaos on our streets,” he said.
The deployment, which began on Sunday, is one of the largest concentrations of Homeland Security personnel in a U.S. city in recent years.
The move comes after ICE launched an immigration enforcement operation late last year targeting individuals with deportation orders in Minneapolis, including members of the city’s Somali community.
The community has often been criticized by Trump, who has called them “trash.”
“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you,” the president said. “Their country is bad for a reason. Their country stinks.”
Trump later stepped up his rhetoric after a conservative online content creator posted a video on YouTube accusing day care centers run by Somali immigrants of massive fraud.
In response, Trump has withheld federal child care funding from Minnesota.
The Trump administration has also dispatched ICE agents to other cities as part of a broader crackdown on what it calls illegal immigration to the United States.
