ICE Agent Kills Woman in Minneapolis, Investigation Underway

Today's killing comes as roughly 2,000 federal law enforcement officers have been deployed throughout the Twin Cities. The scene of the shooting is located only a few blocks from where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, an incident that ignited widespread protests locally, nationally, and globally.

This is a developing story.

Minneapolis City officials confirmed that an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman this morning near the intersection of Portland Avenue and 34th Street.

According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, the woman had stopped in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets. A federal agent approached the vehicle on foot before firing at least two shots, after which the vehicle crashed along the side of the road.

Eyewitnesses at the scene described a chaotic and traumatic aftermath. One witness said that the victim was shot at close range and that bystanders, including a physician, were initially prevented from reaching her.

“They wouldn’t let EMS through, they wouldn’t let anybody through,” the witness said. “I just watched a murder outside my house.”

When officers arrived, they found the victim inside her vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head. She was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Content warning: this video contains gunshots and a car crash.

Eyewitness video

Federal agents quickly posted their spin online. “Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking  ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them — an act of domestic terrorism,” said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a post on X.

Mayor Jacob Frey rejected the suggestion that the shooting was an act of self-defense and demanded that ICE leave Minneapolis.

“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly: that is bullshit,” Frey said during a press conference. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”

Cheif O’Hara said Minneapolis officers secured the scene and worked to preserve evidence before turning it over to the FBI and Minnesota BCA for investigation. The victim’s name has not yet been released.