A US immigration agent fatally shot a 37-year-old woman in the city of Minneapolis, sparking a war of words as local officials rejected the Trump administration’s account that it was self-defence.
The Department of Homeland Security said the woman, Renee Nicole Good, was a “violent rioter” who tried to run over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said “this was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying”, telling ICE officials in expletive-laced remarks to leave the city.
Hundreds of ICE agents have been deployed to the city as part of the White House’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.
Videos posted to social media by onlookers appear to show the moment of the shooting, which occurred around 10:25 local time on Wednesday morning.
From various vantage points, a maroon SUV can be seen blocking a residential street in Minneapolis.
A crowd of people, who appear to be protesting, are lining the pavement.
Law enforcement vehicles appear nearby. Immigration agents pull up to the vehicle parked in the street, emerge from the truck and tell the woman behind the wheel to get out of the SUV. One of the agents tugs at the driver’s side door handle.
Another agent is positioned near the front of the vehicle.
It’s not clear exactly how close the agent is standing or whether he was struck by the vehicle based on the videos reviewed immediately by the BBC.
That agent opens fire as the maroon SUV attempts to drive off.
Three pops are heard, and the vehicle can be seen losing control and crashing into a car parked along the street nearby.
In a post on Truth Social, 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.
The Republican president 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 Good was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue. She was then approached on foot by a federal law enforcement officer, “and she began to drive off”.
