A woman is dead following a shooting involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
ICE agents were conducting operations in Minneapolis when rioters attempted to block their path, according to the local news outlet FOX 9. The woman was driving her vehicle when she was shot and subsequently crashed, according to witness reports and federal law enforcement.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the woman was attempting to run over ICE agents “in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.” An ICE officer fired shots in self-defense at the vehicle, killing the driver, according to the agency’s X account.
However, witnesses denied the DHS account of the incident to local news, telling FOX 9 that ICE agents were attempting to enter the woman’s vehicle when one of them opened fire. One witness told FOX 9 that the vehicle was not moving toward ICE agents when the shooting occurred.
ICE officers were injured in the incident but are expected to make a full recovery, DHS reports.
A video posted to social media by ABC 5 Eyewitness News Minneapolis appears to show the incident.
WARNING: The video below contains sensitive content.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, has been critical of ICE activity in the city.
“The presence of federal immigration enforcement agents is causing chaos in our city,” Frey wrote on X following the shooting.
“We’re demanding ICE to leave the city immediately,” Frey added. “We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the incident “very tragic,” telling reporters at a press conference Wednesday that a full investigation will be conducted.
“The preliminary information that we have indicates that this woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway,” the police chief explained. “At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off. At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
Minneapolis police responded to the incident and performed lifesaving measures, including CPR, before the woman was transported to the Hennepin County medical center where she was pronounced dead, the police chief said.
“I am obviously very concerned that I have been told that a woman who was sitting in her car blocking [the] street, and not the target of any enforcement activity, is now deceased,” O’Hara said, adding that the woman killed “appears to be a middle aged white woman.”
The police chief added that “it’s obviously very concerning whenever there’s a shooting into a vehicle of someone who’s not armed, but it also is something that is possible, at times it is justified.”
According to Reuters, protesters entered the streets near the scene after the incident, and “heavily armed federal agents wearing gas masks” responded by firing chemical munitions at the crowd.
The Trump administration is deploying about 2,000 federal agents to Minnesota following an investigation that revealed large-scale fraud in the Twin Cities area.
ICE agents arrived in Minneapolis in force this week.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the incident comes amid a “1,300% increase in assaults” against immigration officials.
President Donald Trump shared the video of the shooting incident on Truth Social, calling it a “horrible thing to watch.”
“The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense,” Trump said.
DHS is continuing to gather information on the shooting, according to Secretary Kristi Noem, who called the incident an “act of domestic terrorism.”
“We will continue to protect our ICE officers and in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies as well,” Noem said during a press conference at the southern border in Texas on Wednesday.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, held a press conference Wednesday afternoon where he said he would prepare to deploy the state’s National Guard.
“To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough,” Walz added. “There’s nothing more important than Minnesotan safety. I’ve issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard. We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary.”
Walz condemned the shooting and said his administration will “stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice.”
Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s Democrat attorney general, criticized the Trump administration for sending an influx of ICE agents to the state, calling the move “reckless.”
“If anyone broke the law in today’s act of violence, I will do all I can to ensure they are held accountable,” Ellison said in a statement.
