A federal law enforcement officer opened fire on an “illegal alien from Venezuela” during a Minneapolis traffic stop only miles away from the fatal shooting of Renee Good.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the incident happened when their officers were conducting a “targeted traffic stop” in Minneapolis and that the agents were left “fearing for their life.”
The DHS claimed its officers were attacked with a snow shovel and a broom at approximately 6:50 p.m Wednesday. The man, who has not been identified, was subsequently shot in the leg.
The subject was attempting to evade arrest at the time of the incident, McLaughlin said in a statement to the Daily Beast, alleging that the person fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car before fleeing on foot.
“The law enforcement officer caught up to the subject on foot and attempted to apprehend him when the subject began to resist and violently assault the officer,” McLaughlin said.
“While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle.”
McLaughlin said the officer “was being ambushed and attacked” by the two individuals before the original subject “got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick.”
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” the statement said.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a late-night press conference on Wednesday evening that the federal agent discharged his weapon “during the struggle” and hit one adult male, who then retreated into a nearby home and refused to come out.
Federal agents made their way into the residence, where the individual was transported to hospital with “a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.” The “attacked officer” was also transported to hospital. DHS said the other two “attackers” are in custody.
When asked about the “illegal alien” DHS referred to, O’Hara said, “I know nothing about the person that they were following.”
He said there was a 911 call indicating that “the person in the car was running from ICE and driving towards the residence.”
O’Hara also confirmed the use of a broom and a snow shovel and “that some individual, at least one person, may have assaulted federal law enforcement.” However, he was not aware whether it was the same person who was shot or someone else.
Police said the situation around the crime scene remained “tense” overnight, with citizens throwing fireworks at officers hours after the shooting and tear gas being used.
O’Hara urged people to go home immediately to end the “unlawful assembly,” while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked citizens to “not counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos.”
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS to confirm ICE’s involvement. A spokesperson for the City of Minneapolis confirmed the incident and called out the presence of immigration officers.
“This evening, an adult male was shot by federal immigration enforcement agents in the 600 block of 24th Avenue North,” they said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“We understand there is anger. We ask the public to remain calm. The City of Minneapolis again demands that ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand by our immigrant and refugee communities – know that you have our full support.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Minneapolis police for comment.
Frey said the situation surrounding ICE’s involvement was “not sustainable.” There are now 3000 ICE agents in the city, Frey confirmed, swamping the 600 local police officers.
“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in,” Frey said. “We’re in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE agents on the street, to stand by their neighbors. We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another.”
Frey said he had witnessed conduct from ICE “that is disgusting and intolerable” in Minneapolis, but asked for calm from protesters.
The latest incident follows the death of Renee Good at the hands of an ICE officer earlier this month.
Good, 37, was fatally shot in the head by an ICE officer on Jan. 7 while driving in Minneapolis with her wife Becca. The officer, Jonathan Ross, called Good a “f--king b---h” while she was labelled a “domestic terrorist” by the Trump administration.
Attorney General Todd Blanche replied to a preliminary report on the latest incident.
Blanche said ICE were “protecting us from criminal aliens.”
“Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement,” he wrote. “It’s disgusting. Walz and Frey - I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It’s a promise.”
The shooting followed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz who made a six-minute address to Minnesotans Wednesday night, urging President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “end this occupation.”
“What’s happening in Minnesota right now defies belief,” Walz said. “News reports simply don’t do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities.”
“Let’s be very, very clear: this long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government,” he said.
After Wednesday’s shooting, Walz posted on X that state investigators were already at the crime scene.
“I know you’re angry. I’m angry,” Walz said. “What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets. But Minnesota will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace. Don’t give him what he wants.”
McLaughlin’s statement accused Walz and Frey of “actively encouraging an organized resistance” to ICE and federal law enforcement officers.
“Their hateful rhetoric and resistance against men and women who are simply trying to do their jobs must end.”
The White House’s Rapid Response 47 X account was also quick to slam Walz and Frey, saying “these criminals in Minnesota” had been “emboldened” to “evade arrest and attack law enforcement officers” by their words.
“This is a result of their sick, unhinged rhetoric,” the post claimed.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Frey addressed claims his anti-ICE rhetoric had “taken up the temperature” in Minneapolis.
“Show me a single place where I have encouraged anything other than peace,” Frey said. “Show me a single place where we have encouraged violence. I have said from the get-go, to people in Minneapolis, do not take the bait. We are better than that.”
He added, “American citizens are getting picked up off the street by people in masks. That’s not the way things should be conducted in any city in America. That’s not who we are. That’s not America. So I’m calling for peace.”
