Minneapolis: Clashes in US city after second ICE shooting in space of week
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Protests have broken out in Minneapolis after a Venezuelan man was shot in the leg by an ICE officer just miles from where a mother-of-three was killed by an agent last week.
Protesters have assembled near the scene of the shooting, and have been met by federal agents and police officers who fired tear gas into the crowd.
The Minnesota city has been a focus of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and tensions have flared since the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
She was shot in her car by an officer from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on Wednesday 7 January.
The Trump administration claimed the shooting was an act of self-defence by the officer, declaring the woman used her vehicle as a weapon to attack him – a version of events rejected by state and local officials, who say a bystander video showed her steering away.
The latest shooting came after hundreds more agents were deployed to the city.
It took place about four-and-a-half miles north of where Ms Good was killed.
According to the Department for Homeland Security, it happened shortly before 7pm local time on Wednesday after a targeted traffic stop of an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.
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“In an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car,” it said in a statement. “The subject then fled on foot.”
After catching up, the officer was assaulted as the man resisted arrest, added the statement.
Pic: Reuters
The statement added: “As the officer was being ambushed and attacked by the two individuals, the original subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broomstick.
“Fearing for his life and safety, as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life. The initial subject was hit in the leg.”
The officer and man who was shot are in hospital, while the other two people are in custody.
City mayor Jacob Frey urged calm, but reiterated calls for ICE to “leave the city and state immediately”.
Pics: Reuters
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said it was launching an “independent” investigation into the latest ICE shooting in Minneapolis.
The FBI removed state investigators from the probe into the shooting of Renee Good, sparking outrage among local officials.
But after the second ICE shooting in the city in a week, the Minnesota BCA said it was going it alone this time.
It said: “BCA Force Investigation Unit is investigating the use-of-force incident that occurred earlier tonight in Minneapolis involving an ICE officer.
“Our team has processed the scene and left the area. This will be an independent BCA investigation. No further information is available tonight. More information will be released in the coming days.”
Martha Kelner, Sky News’ US correspondent, has been at the scene of the protests.
She said: “You can really sense the level of anger here being directed at ICE agents, people in Minneapolis say that ICE simply has no part in their city.”
Kelner also described how some people had been “smashing up” a vehicle believed to have been used by ICE.
Protesters had been throwing snowballs and sometimes setting off fireworks towards immigration officials, who have responded with pepper bullets and flash bangs, she said.
Pic: Reuters
At a press conference held after the most recent shooting, Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara and Mr Frey urged protesters to go home.
Mr O’Hara said the crowd was “engaging in unlawful acts,” while Mr Frey said “we cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos”.
Mr Frey added that he had “seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable”. He accused ICE and border control agents of “creating chaos” throughout the city and the state.
The mayor later posted on X, saying: “There’s 600 Minneapolis Police Department officers working to keep our streets safe. Meanwhile, they’ve sent in 3,000 federal agents. America, this is not the path we can be on.”
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‘Organised brutality’
It came after a judge gave the Trump administration time to respond to a request to suspend its crackdown in the city, with assistant attorney general Brian Carter telling a court, “the temperature needs to be lowered”.
Governor Tim Walz has described what’s happening in Minnesota as “a campaign of organised brutality”, and said “accountability” would come through the courts.
The Department of Homeland Security said it had made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December.
The Pentagon is preparing to send military lawyers to Minneapolis to assist the government’s case.
