海角大神

ICE officer kills Minneapolis driver amid Trump immigration operation

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday, stirring outcries from residents. The city鈥檚 mayor called the shooting reckless and unnecessary.

First Look

The 37-year-old woman was during a traffic stop in a snowy residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets and about a mile from where by police in 2020. Her killing quickly drew a crowd of hundreds of angry protesters.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, while visiting Texas, described the incident as an 鈥渁ct of domestic terrorism鈥� carried out against ICE officers by a woman who 鈥渁ttempted 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.鈥�

In a social media post, President Donald Trump made similar accusations against the woman and defended ICE鈥檚 work.

Hours later, at an evening news conference in Minnesota, Ms., Noem didn鈥檛 back down, claiming the woman was part of a 鈥渕ob of agitators.鈥�

鈥淎ny loss of life is a tragedy, and I think all of us can agree that in this situation, it was preventable,鈥� she said, adding that the FBI would investigate.

But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey blasted Noem鈥檚 characterization as 鈥済arbage鈥� and criticized the federal deployment of more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the immigration crackdown.

鈥淲hat they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,鈥� Mr. Frey said, calling on the immigration agents to leave. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e ripping families apart. They鈥檙e sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.鈥�

鈥淭hey are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,鈥� the mayor said. He said that, having seen the video himself, that is false.

Mr. Frey said he had a message for ICE: Get out of Minneapolis.

A shooting caught on video

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 Honda Pilot 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 vehicle at close range.

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. Witnesses screamed obscenities, expressing shock at what they鈥檇 seen.

After the shooting, emergency medical technicians tried to administer aid to the woman.

鈥淪he was driving away and they killed her,鈥� said resident Lynette Reini-Grandell, who was outdoors recording video on her phone.

The shooting marked a dramatic escalation of the latest in a in major cities under the Trump administration. The death of the Minneapolis driver, whose name wasn鈥檛 immediately released, was linked to immigration crackdowns.

The Twin Cities have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, which is at least partly tied to involving Somali residents. Wednesday that DHS had deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area and said they had already made 鈥渉undreds and hundreds鈥� of arrests.

A large throng of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, where they vented their anger at the local and federal officers who were there, including , a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.

In a scene that hearkened back to the and crackdowns, bystanders heckled the officers, chanting 鈥淪hame! Shame! Shame!鈥� and 鈥淚CE out of Minnesota,鈥� and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.

Governor calls for calm

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he鈥檚 prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He said a family member of the driver was there to witness the killing, which he described as 鈥減redictable鈥� and 鈥渁voidable.鈥� He also said like many, he was outraged by the shooting, but he called on people to keep protests peaceful.

鈥淭hey want a show. We can鈥檛 give it to them. We cannot,鈥� the governor said during a news conference. 鈥淚f you protest and express your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully, as you always do. We can鈥檛 give them what they want.鈥�

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O鈥橦ara briefly described the shooting to reporters but, unlike federal officials, gave no indication that the driver was trying to harm anyone. He said she had been shot in the head.

鈥淭his 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,鈥� the chief said. 鈥淎t least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.鈥�

There were calls on social media to prosecute the officer who shot the driver. Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said state authorities would investigate the shooting with federal authorities.

鈥淜eep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy. So any speculation about what has happened would be just that,鈥� Jacobson told reporters.

The shooting happened in the district of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who called it 鈥渟tate violence,鈥� not law enforcement.

For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilize in the event of an immigration enforcement surge. From houses of worship to mobile home parks, they have set up very active online networks, scanned license plates for possible federal vehicles and bought whistles and other noisemaking devices to alert neighborhoods of any enforcement presence.