ICE Agent Fatally Shoots Woman in Minneapolis Amid Immigration Crackdown [VIDEO]

A 37-year-old woman was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday during an immigration-related operation that escalated amid protests, according to federal and local authorities.

The shooting occurred near 33rd Street and Portland Avenue, close to Powderhorn Park, less than 24 hours after the Trump administration announced a large-scale immigration crackdown underway in Minnesota.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE agents were conducting a targeted operation when they were blocked by demonstrators. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said agents were confronted by what she described as “violent rioters.”

McLaughlin alleged the woman “weaponized her vehicle,” claiming she attempted to run over ICE officers “in an attempt to kill them,” which DHS labeled an act of domestic terrorism.

“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement, and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots,” McLaughlin said. “He used his training and saved lives. The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased.”

Federal officials identified the victim as a 37-year-old woman but have not released her name.

However, witness accounts, video footage, and statements from city officials sharply contradict the federal government’s version of events.

A review of video circulating online appears to show the woman’s vehicle moving away from officers, not toward them, at the moment shots were fired. Photographs of the vehicle show children’s toys inside, including a plush animal and a child’s drawing.

Witnesses said the woman and her wife were acting as legal observers, filming the protest when the shooting occurred. In one widely shared video, a distraught woman is heard saying:
“That’s my wife… I have a six-year-old at school… we’re new here, we don’t have anyone.” 

At a heated press conference Wednesday afternoon, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected DHS’s characterization of the shooting.

“ICE is trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” Frey said. “Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody that is bull***. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.”

Frey called on ICE agents to leave the city, accusing federal immigration authorities of “ripping families apart” and creating chaos on Minneapolis streets.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said local officers arrived to find the woman suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Officers performed life-saving measures, including CPR, before she was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Preliminary information indicates the woman was sitting in her vehicle blocking Portland Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets. O’Hara said a federal agent approached the vehicle on foot, after which the car began to drive away. At least two shots were fired, and the vehicle later crashed along the side of the road.

O’Hara expressed serious concern about the tactics used by federal immigration agents.

“In any professional law enforcement agency in the country, it’s obviously very concerning whenever there’s a shooting into a vehicle involving someone who is not armed,” he said.

The investigation into the use of deadly force has been turned over to the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.