A U.S. immigration agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in a car in Minneapolis, amid heightened immigration enforcement, local and federal officials said.
It is the latest in a series of violent incidents during President Donald Trump's national crackdown on migrants, Reuters reports.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has strongly rejected the Trump administration's claims that the agent fired in self-defense, saying he has personally viewed video of the shooting that he said directly refutes what he called the government's "trash narrative."
"They're already trying to portray this as an act of self-defense," Frey said at a news conference. "Having seen the footage myself, I want to make it clear to everyone – it's pure nonsense."
Visibly furious, Frey said federal immigration agents were responsible for causing chaos in the city, telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to "get out of Minneapolis." He also urged citizens to remain calm.
The shooting sparked protests near the scene of the incident, and some of the demonstrators were responded to by heavily armed federal agents wearing gas masks, who used chemical irritants.
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a post on the X network that a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer opened fire after what she described as a "violent rioter" tried to run over ICE agents.
"The alleged perpetrator was shot and killed," she wrote. "The ICE officers who were injured are expected to make a full recovery."
Frey said the woman did not appear to be trying to run anyone over in the video he reviewed. City Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters that a preliminary investigation indicated the woman's vehicle was blocking traffic when a federal agent approached it on foot.
"The vehicle then drove off," he said. "At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed into the curb."
Trump, a Republican, deployed federal immigration agents to Democratic-controlled cities across the US during his first year in office as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration, which sparked opposition from some in the population.
The administration planned to send about 2.000 agents to Minneapolis, according to media reports, following allegations of widespread welfare fraud involving Somali immigrants, whom Trump has previously called "trash," Reuters reports.
The identity of the woman who was killed has not been made public. U.S. Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, wrote on X.com that the woman was a U.S. citizen. The police chief said the woman, who was married, was not the target of an immigration operation.
Witnesses described the shooting
A dark SUV with a bullet hole in the windshield and blood stains on the headrest was seen crashing into a pole on the snow-covered street where the shooting occurred.
Vinus de Mars, a 65-year-old Minneapolis resident who lives near the scene, said she saw paramedics performing CPR on a woman lying in a snowdrift next to a wrecked car. She was then placed in an ambulance that drove away without its sirens on.
"There's been a lot of ICE activity, but never anything like this," de Mars said. "I'm so angry. I'm furious and I feel helpless."
The deployment of agents to Minneapolis follows Trump's recent attacks on Minnesota's Democratic Governor Tim Volk, as well as the state's large population of Somali Americans and Somali immigrants, over alleged fraud dating back to 2020 involving certain non-governmental organizations that administer child care programs and other social services.
At least 56 people have pleaded guilty since federal prosecutors began filing charges in 2022, during the term of Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, announced this week that he would not seek a third term as governor, saying he did not have time to deal with the fraud scandal and campaign at the same time.
Immigration agents have been involved in other similar shootings during Trump's crackdown.
During Operation Midway Blitz, an intensified immigration crackdown in Chicago last fall, ICE agents killed Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Mexican national, in a Chicago suburb. Gonzalez, a chef and father of two with no criminal record, was shot in his car after agents tried to arrest him, according to Reuters.
A DHS statement said Gonzalez drove his vehicle toward agents, dragging one officer, which allegedly prompted the agent to shoot out of fear for his life. However, police body camera footage obtained by Reuters complicated that version of events, with an ICE agent heard saying his injuries were "not serious."
Border Patrol agents also shot a woman in Chicago in October. DHS said at the time that the shooting was an act of self-defense after the woman, Marimar Martinez, crashed her vehicle into an agent's vehicle. Her attorney, however, said that video footage showed the agents hitting her car before opening fire.
In December, ICE agents fired on a van carrying two men they were trying to arrest, wounding one of them. DHS said the men pointed the vehicle at the ICE agents, prompting them to fire in self-defense.
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