A United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer has shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in her car in Minneapolis, amid the Trump administration's latest immigration crackdown, according to local and federal officials.
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey rejected the Trump administration's assertion that the agent fired in self-defence, saying video of the shooting directly contradicted what he called the government's "garbage narrative".
"They're already trying to spin this as an action of self-defence," a visibly angry Frey said at a press conference. "Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly — that is bulls--t."
Frey blamed federal immigration agents for sowing chaos in the city, telling ICE: "Get the f--k out of Minneapolis."
He also urged residents to remain calm.
The shooting drew hundreds of protesters into the streets near the scene, some of whom were met by heavily armed federal agents wearing gas masks who reportedly fired chemical irritants.
The Minnesota City Council identified the dead woman as Renee Nicole Good and said she was "out caring for her neighbours this morning and her life was taken today at the hands of the federal government." The council statement also demanded that ICE leave the city immediately.
The police chief said Good was not a target of immigration operations.
US senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said on X the Good was a US citizen, while Democratic representative Ilhan Omar, whose district includes Minneapolis, said she was a "legal observer".
Government officials say officer fired defensively
Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told a press conference that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were responding to a vehicle stuck in the snow when they were harassed by a "mob of agitators".
One of the protesters, later identified as Good, followed agents all day, Noem said. Good blocked their vehicle and refused orders to move out of the way, she said.
"She then proceeded to weaponise her vehicle, and she attempted to run a law enforcement officer over," Noem told a news conference, saying the car struck the officer.
She characterised that as domestic terrorism and said the act was under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). State officials said they would launch their own investigation.
Earlier, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin referred to Good as a "violent rioter" and said the agent who killed her had saved "his own life and that of his fellow officers".
Protesters gathered in the streets near where the woman was shot. Source: Getty / Stephen Maturen
Trump also posted on his Truth Social platform, saying he had viewed a clip of the incident.
"The reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE agents on a daily basis." he claimed.
Opponents of Trump called for protests in several American cities, raising the risk that the killing could become a national flashpoint over his deployment of federal officers to Democratic-led cities and states.
Videos of the shooting
Videos of the shooting posted on social media and verified by Reuters news agency raised doubts about the government's account.
One widely shared video shows a maroon Honda SUV partially blocking a road. As the clip starts, the driver inches forward, then stops to let another car pass.
The driver, with the window down, then appears to gesture to an approaching pickup truck to go ahead as well.
Instead, the truck stops, and two officers exit and approach the vehicle on foot. As one of the agents orders the driver out of the SUV and grabs the door handle, the vehicle reverses briefly, and a third agent comes around to the front of the car from the passenger side.
The woman fatally shot by ICE agents has been named as Renee Nicole Good. Source: Getty / Stephen Maturen
He fires three shots, with at least one shot after the car's front bumper has already passed him.
It was not clear from the video whether the car made contact with the officer, who kept his feet throughout the encounter.
After the shots are fired, the car accelerates up the street and crashes into parked cars and a utility pole.
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