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An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in her car in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday, sparking conflicting accounts of the events from federal and local authorities.
The Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer had “fired defensive shots” in response to an “act of domestic terrorism”. But those claims were sharply rejected by Minneapolis’s Democratic mayor Jacob Frey, who accused the federal government of “trying to spin this as an action of self-defence.”
“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit,” Frey said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”
Videos allegedly showing the shooting appeared to show a Honda Pilot blocking traffic on a residential street before several masked law enforcement officers approached the car. The driver reversed the car and then began to drive forward. One officer fired several shots at the driver at close range. The footage was circulated widely on social media.
The shooting comes amid heightened tensions between the Trump administration and state and local leaders in Minnesota, where Democratic officials have been outspoken in their objection to ICE carrying out immigration raids.
“I have a message for ICE,” Frey said at Wednesday’s press conference. “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”
His comments were echoed by Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota.
“I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” Walz said in a post on X. “The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said an investigation was being led jointly by the FBI and Minnesota state authorities.
US President Donald Trump posted one clip to his Truth Social platform, saying the woman driving the car was “very disorderly, obstructing and resisting” and “violently, wilfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense”.
O’Hara said there was “nothing to indicate” that the woman — who has not been named but Frey said was 37 years old — was “the target of any law enforcement investigation activity”.
“This woman was in her car, and it appears then blocking the street because of the presence of federal law enforcement . . . she appears to be a middle-aged white woman,” O’Hara said. “It is obviously very concerning whenever there is a shooting into a vehicle of someone who is not armed.”
O’Hara’s comments contradicted earlier statements from homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, who said at a press conference in Brownsville, Texas, that ICE agents had been “stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis” and “were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them.”
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described the woman who was shot as a “violent rioter” who had “weaponised her vehicle” and attempted to “run over our law enforcement in an attempt to kill them”.
McLaughlin said the incident was a “direct consequence of constant attacks and demonisation of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement”.
O’Hara called for calm, encouraging protesters to demonstrate “safely and lawfully, to ensure that we do not have any further tragedy in the city or destruction”.
The shooting occurred less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020, in an event that prompted large-scale protests across the US.
Two days before the shooting, Walz had announced he would not seek re-election as governor amid a federal investigation into fraudsters allegedly exploiting the state’s welfare programmes. Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding for Minnesota over the scandal.