MINNEAPOLIS, — Federal immigration agents shot and killed a man in south Minneapolis on Saturday morning, officials said, marking the second fatal shooting of a civilian linked to federal immigration operations in the city this month and triggering fresh protests and demands for an independent, state-led investigation.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said U.S. Border Patrol officers opened fire in self-defense during what it described as a “targeted operation” aimed at locating “an illegal alien wanted for violent assault.” DHS said “an individual approached” officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and additional ammunition, and that officers attempted to disarm him before he “violently resisted,” prompting an agent to fire “defensive shots.”
Local officials offered a sharply different framing. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said police believed the man was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, and he urged residents to avoid the area as tensions escalated. Minnesota law allows open carry with a permit.
Video circulating on social media—later confirmed by authorities as depicting the incident—shows multiple agents restraining and striking a person on the ground before gunshots ring out, according to reporting by Reuters and other outlets. The footage has intensified public scrutiny over federal use of force and rules of engagement during immigration operations.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the shooting “horrific” and said state authorities should lead the investigation, arguing federal agents operating at scale in the state have inflamed tensions and undermined public confidence. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged President Donald Trump to end the federal operation, saying the city needs de-escalation and “peace.”
Saturday’s killing comes less than three weeks after Renée Good, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed on Jan. 7 during immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled Good’s death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds; the ICE officer identified in media reports as the shooter, Jonathan Ross, has not been publicly charged.
Authorities said Saturday’s shooting quickly drew crowds and confrontations. Police declared an unlawful assembly and deployed crowd-control measures, including tear gas, as demonstrators moved through the commercial corridors of the south Minneapolis neighborhood.
The incident lands amid an expanded federal immigration presence in the Democratic-led city. Reuters reported that the Trump administration has deployed thousands of federal agents to Minnesota as part of a sweeping deportation push, a strategy that has sparked near-daily demonstrations and sharpened state–federal tensions
