Minneapolis, MN, January 25 (ANI) — A 37-year-old man was shot and killed by federal immigration agents early Saturday morning in south Minneapolis, authorities and eyewitnesses confirmed, igniting protests and heightening tensions between local leaders and the federal government, CNN reported.
According to the Minnesota governor’s office and local law enforcement, the incident occurred around 9 a.m. local time near 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue, where US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were conducting enforcement operations. Federal officials described the shooting as an act of self-defense, claiming the man “approached Border Patrol officers with a handgun.”
However, video reviewed by independent sources presented a different account. Footage shows the man, identified by police as a US citizen and lawful gun owner, holding only a phone on the sidewalk before agents used pepper spray and physical force to subdue him, CNN reported.
Witnesses and civil liberties advocates told journalists that the man “was trying to help others who had been shoved” by agents when he was pepper-sprayed, wrestled to the ground, and shot multiple times. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that the victim was a resident of the city and noted that the circumstances surrounding the shooting are still under investigation.
The incident follows the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, by an ICE officer on January 7, which had already drawn national attention to federal immigration enforcement tactics.
In response to Saturday’s shooting, hundreds of protesters gathered in sub-zero temperatures, clashing with law enforcement and demanding accountability. Local leaders sharply criticized the federal presence in Minneapolis. Governor Tim Walz said the city and state are “sickened” by the repeated use of deadly force and urged the Trump administration to end the current immigration operation.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the agents’ actions, calling the operation necessary for public safety and stating that officers acted in defense under dangerous conditions.
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