Federal agents shoot man dead in Minneapolis

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A man was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, the second death at the hands of law enforcement this month in a city that has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that a 37-year-old American citizen was killed following a confrontation with immigration agents, and called for calm as demonstrations spread across the city.

Video footage of the incident showed law enforcement officers wrestling a man to the ground before firing several shots at him at close range.

There have been frequent clashes in Minneapolis between law enforcement and protesters amid a widespread anti-immigration and deportation campaign directed by president Donald Trump.

Renee Nicole Goode, a 37-year-old woman, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on January 7. This was followed by the shooting of a Venezuelan migrant who survived a week later.

Trump commented on the shooting on Saturday afternoon, posting a photo of what he said was the victim’s firearm “loaded… and ready to go.” “Let the patriots in the snow do their work!” the president wrote on Truth Social. He described the incident as a “cover-up” of fraud operations in the state.

A video taken shortly before the incident shows the man recording officers on his phone, when one of them comes to confront him. Another video shows several officers trying to arrest him just before the shooting.

The Department of Homeland Security said officers were conducting an immigration operation shortly after 9 a.m. local time on Saturday when they were approached by a person carrying a semi-automatic handgun.

Agents “tried to disarm the individual, but he resisted violently,” Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino said.

The circulating footage of the moments preceding the incident does not appear to show the man brandishing a weapon.

The dispute over what the footage showed reflects the ongoing debate over whether Judd’s shooting was justified.

O’Hara, the city’s police chief, said the man was a “legal gun owner with a permit to carry it” and that his only previous known interaction with law enforcement was for traffic violations.

Protests broke out in the city after the shooting. Video footage showed tear gas being deployed as authorities sought to disperse the growing number of demonstrators who took to the streets, many of whom were wearing gas masks and chanting in the name of goodness and “our streets.”

O’Hara said local police “gave multiple warnings to the crowd to disperse” and called on people to leave the area. State troopers, many carrying batons, were also at the scene along with local police.

“We ask everyone to stay calm and not destroy our city,” O’Hara said.

Trump has deployed ICE agents en masse to major Democratic-led cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago, to detain illegal immigrants, leading to jurisdictional standoffs between local and federal authorities.

Minneapolis police said they had not received any additional information from their federal counterparts after Saturday’s shooting.

“I just watched a video of over six masked agents beating one of our constituents and shooting him to death,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a press conference on Saturday.

“How many more residents, how many more Americans, would need to die or be seriously injured for this process to end?”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called on the administration to remove federal agents from the city and allow local authorities to conduct any investigation.

“The federal occupation of Minnesota has long ceased to be an immigration enforcement issue,” Walz said at a news conference.

“It is an organized, brutal campaign against the people of our state. Today, it has claimed another life.”