A federal officer has shot a man in the leg during an enforcement operation in north Minneapolis, sparking protests in a city still on edge after the killing of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent last week.
The shooting occurred about 7pm local time, according to witnesses. Several hundred protesters gathered at the scene on Wednesday night faced off with agents who blocked off the area and deployed smoke and other crowd control weapons.
Residents in the neighborhood have not been able to enter or leave the area, and multiple sources in networks of legal aid and mutual aid groups said a pregnant woman needing medical attention was not able to get access to a physician.
In a statement posted online, the city of Minneapolis said it was aware “of a shooting involving federal law enforcement in north Minneapolis” and was working to confirm additional information. What led to the shooting and the identities of those involved have not yet been released.
The incident, first reported locally by the Minnesota Star Tribune, occurred as the city continued to reel in the aftermath of the killing Good by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent last week.
The man was shot in the leg and was not fatally wounded, sources told the Guardian.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request from the Guardian about the incident. In a statement posted on X, the agency said: “At 6:50 PM CT, federal law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop in Minneapolis of an illegal alien from Venezuela.”
The agency accused their target of resisting and attacking, and said that two other individuals “came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked” the officer, who “fired a defensive shot to defend his life”.
The Guardian has not verified any of the details in the DHS statement. After the shooting of Good last week, the DHS claimed that Good had attacked the federal agent who shot her, seemingly contradicting video evidence that she was driving away from the officer.
About 3,000 immigration officers are operating in Minnesota or are on their way to deploy in the state, according to federal officials.
The Trump administrationhas described the operation as the largest in the Department of Homeland Security’s history.
The massive militarized operation has transformed daily life in the region. Residents have mobilized teams of volunteers to patrol streets for the presence of immigration officers, observe arrests and provide legal aid. Formal and informal networks of volunteers have also helped deliver food to families fearful to leave their homes, and transport the children to and from schools.
Since Good was killed on 7 January, protests against the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement have erupted across the US. Officers have used aggressive crowd control tactics against demonstrators, including the use of teargas, pepper balls and stun grenades, and administration officials have repeatedly defended agents, saying they are working under the protection of federal immunity.
Tensions in the city remain high. The governor of Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, issued a call to action to Minnesotans in an address earlier on Wednesday, urging citizens to record the “atrocities” committed by ICE agents in the state “to bank evidence for future prosecution”.
“Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door-to-door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live,” he said. “It’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”
Walz called on Minnesotans to “carry your phone with you at all times” to “help us establish a record of exactly what’s happening in our communities”. He also told residents: “Accountability is coming, in the voting booth and in court.”
