- Furious mayor orders ICE agents out of city
A United States immigration agent has shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, triggering sharp disagreement between local officials and the President Donald Trump administration over what led to the incident.
The Department of Homeland Security said the woman, Renee Nicole Good, was a “violent rioter” who attempted to run over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, describing the shooting as an act of self-defence.
Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob Frey, rejected that account, saying: “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying,” and urging ICE officials, in expletive-laced remarks, to leave the city.
The shooting comes as hundreds of ICE agents have been deployed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, as part of the White House’s ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.
Videos shared on social media appear to capture the moment of the shooting, which occurred around 10:25am local time on Wednesday. The footage shows a maroon SUV blocking a residential street, with protesters lining the pavement nearby and law enforcement vehicles in the area.
Immigration agents are seen approaching the SUV and ordering the driver to get out. One agent pulls at the driver’s side door handle, while another stands near the front of the vehicle. As the SUV attempts to drive away, an agent opens fire.
Three gunshots are heard, after which the vehicle loses control and crashes into a parked car along the street.
Based on the videos reviewed immediately by the BBC, it is unclear how close the agent was standing to the vehicle or whether he was struck by it.
In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said an ICE officer was “viciously” run over. “It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital,” he wrote. He also blamed the “Radical Left” for “threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis”.
Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said the woman was blocking Portland Avenue in her vehicle when she was approached on foot by a federal law enforcement officer, “and she began to drive off”.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Good had been “stalking and impeding” officers throughout the day and tried to “weaponise her vehicle” in an attempt to run over an agent in what she described as an act of “domestic terrorism”.
Noem said the agent fired “defensive shots” and was injured during the incident before being treated and discharged from a local hospital. She added that the same agent had also been hit by a car in the line of duty in June.
The Minneapolis City Council disputed the federal account, saying in a statement that Good was simply “caring for her neighbours” when she was shot and killed.
Noem said ICE operations in Minneapolis would continue and confirmed that the FBI would investigate the shooting.
An eyewitness, Emily Heller, told CNN she was at home when she saw ICE agents arguing with protesters outside. She said agents were shouting at a woman driving an SUV and that one tried to open the car door before the driver reversed and began pulling away.
“An ICE agent stepped in front of her vehicle and said, ‘Stop!’ and then – I mean, she was already moving – and then, point blank, shot her through her windshield in the face,” Heller said.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also challenged the federal government’s version of events. “Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” he wrote in response to a Department of Homeland Security post on the shooting.
“The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
Senior Democrats, including former Vice-President Kamala Harris and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, issued statements condemning the incident. Harris described the Trump administration’s account as “gaslighting”.
Protests and marches erupted across Minneapolis, with demonstrators condemning the killing and calling for ICE to leave the city.
The shooting took place about one mile from the site where George Floyd was murdered in 2020, an incident that sparked global anti-racism protests.
Further demonstrations were being organised in other US cities, including New Orleans, Miami, Seattle and New York City.
Minneapolis Public Schools announced that classes were cancelled for the rest of the week “due to safety concerns”, following reports that federal agents made arrests outside a high school on Wednesday.
- BBC