Protests Erupt After Fatal ICE Shooting in Minneapolis

Tensions have flared in Minneapolis in the wake of the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by a federal immigration agent, as protests have mounted and erupted into clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday authorized the state’s National Guard “to be staged and ready to support local and state law enforcement in protecting critical infrastructure and maintaining public safety,” according to a press release from his office, which stressed that the move was done “out of an abundance of caution.”

“Thousands of people have peacefully made their voices heard. Minnesota: thank you. We saw powerful peace,” Walz said in the press release. “We have every reason to believe that peace will hold. Yesterday, I directed the National Guard to be ready should they be needed. They remain ready in the event they are needed to help keep the peace, ensure public safety, and allow for peaceful demonstrations.”

Protesters convened on Thursday outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which holds offices for a number of federal agencies, including an immigration court and the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters. Demonstrators held up signs that read “ICE Out Now” and “We deserve to be safe in our community.” Law enforcement officers pushed the crowd farther away from the building, releasing tear gas and firing pepper balls in an attempt to disperse protesters.

“We are peacefully demonstrating,” Patrick Riley, who protested outside the building on Thursday, told The Associated Press. “We’re trying to let this organization know that they’re not welcome.”

The previous day, protesters yelled and threw snowballs at law enforcement officers at the scene of the shooting and that evening, mourners held a makeshift memorial to honor Renee Nicole Good, who authorities identified as the woman who was shot and killed by an ICE agent earlier on Wednesday. Outrage over Good’s killing has prompted protests in other cities beyond Minneapolis, including New York City, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Read More: Minneapolis Mayor Demands ICE Leave the City After Agent Fatally Shoots Woman

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted a message on X directed at Minnesota protesters on Thursday afternoon, saying that “peacefully protesting is a sacred American right protected by the First Amendment” but “obstructing, impeding, or attacking federal law enforcement is a federal crime. So is damaging federal property.” She warned that any demonstrators who “cross that red line” will be arrested and prosecuted.

“Do not test our resolve,” she said.

Minneapolis Public Schools canceled classes for the rest of the week “due to safety concerns” in the city, saying that the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution.”

Local leaders encouraged peaceful protests in the city, acknowledging residents’ anger over the shooting.

“If you are angry, we understand. We are angry too,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement shared on social media on Wednesday. “If you are feeling despair, we ask you to show up with peace. We are going to meet that injustice with constitutional justice ourselves.”

Federal officials have characterized the shooting as an act of “self-defense” and accused Good of attempting to run over the ICE agent who fired the shots with her car, an explanation that local leaders have vehemently rejected.

“The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis,” President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. “They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking at a press conference about an unrelated issue in New York on Thursday, maintained that she believed the agent adhered to his training, though she acknowledged that there would be an investigation into the incident. She claimed the vehicle Good was driving was “used as a weapon” and said “this officer took action to protect himself and to protect his fellow law enforcement officers.”

The day before, Noem said that the immigration agent had been “dragged” by a car in another altercation in June. Noem didn’t name the officer, but a department spokesperson confirmed to AP that the June incident the Homeland Security Secretary alluded to had occurred in Bloomington, Minnesota. AP reported that court documents identified the officer in question as Jonathan Ross.

City and state leaders have condemned federal officials’ account of the incident in Minneapolis on Wednesday, with some calling it “propaganda.” Frey, who told reporters that he had watched video footage of the incident, said that the claim that the shooting was done in self-defense was “bullsh-t.”

“What I can tell you is the narrative that this was just done in self-defense is a garbage narrative that is not true,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “It has no truth, and it needs to be stated very clearly.”

Video footage of the incident circulating online shows federal agents going up to a car, with one officer trying to open the door on the driver’s side of the vehicle. The car can be seen backing up briefly, and then starting to drive away from the officers. In the footage, another agent appears to pull out his gun and proceeds to fire shots in the direction of the car.

The superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Drew Evans, said on Thursday that federal officials weren’t giving state investigators access to evidence in the incident, which effectively means they can’t investigate the shooting. Noem said that state investigators “have not been cut out” of the investigation, but claimed that they didn’t have jurisdiction in this case. The city of Minneapolis released a statement on X in response to the move, calling it “deeply disappointing” and saying that city officials were “concerned that the investigation is proceeding without state partners.”

“We are calling for a clear and transparent process that includes state investigating agencies,” the city said.

The shooting, which took place less than a mile away from the site of George Floyd’s killing by a police officer in 2020, sparked widespread outrage. ICE has deployed hundreds of agents to Minnesota recently as part of an immigration crackdown, which many local officials, including Frey, objected to even before the shooting. In the aftermath of Good’s killing on Wednesday, many leaders called for ICE to vacate the city.

“I have a message for ICE: Get the f-ck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here,” Frey said on Wednesday. “Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart … and now somebody is dead.”