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A man was shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, the second fatality at the hands of law enforcement this month in a city that has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said that a 37-year-old American citizen had been killed following a confrontation with immigration agents, and called for calm as demonstrations spread across the city.
Video footage of the incident appeared to show law enforcement officers wrestling a man to the ground before firing several shots at him from close range.
There have been repeated clashes in Minneapolis between law enforcement and protesters amid a sweeping immigration crackdown and deportation campaign directed by President Donald Trump.
Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on January 7. That was followed by the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant, who survived, a week later.
Trump weighed in on the shooting on Saturday afternoon, posting a picture of what he said was the victim’s firearm “loaded . . . and ready to go”. “LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB!,” the president wrote on Truth Social. He described the incident as a “cover-up” for fraud in the state.
Video captured shortly before the incident shows the man recording officers on his phone, when one comes over to confront him. Another video shows multiple officers attempting to detain him just before the shooting.
The Department of Homeland Security said officers had been carrying out an immigration operation shortly after 9am local time on Saturday when they were approached by an individual with a semi-automatic handgun.
Border patrol commander Greg Bovino said agents had “attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted”.
Footage circulating of the moments leading up to the incident did not appear to show the man brandishing a weapon.
The dispute over what the footage showed mirrored the continuing debate over whether Good’s shooting was justified.
O’Hara, the city police chief, said the man was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry” and that his only known prior interaction with law enforcement was for traffic offences.
Protests erupted in the city following the shooting. Video footage showed tear gas being deployed as authorities sought to disperse the growing number of demonstrators taking to the streets, many wearing gas masks and chanting Good’s name and “our streets”.
O’Hara said local police had “given multiple warnings for the crowd to disperse” and called on people to leave the area. State troopers, many carrying batons, were also present on the scene alongside local police.
“We ask everyone to remain calm, and to please, do not destroy our own city,” said O’Hara.
Trump has deployed ICE agents en masse to big Democrat-led cities including Los Angeles and Chicago to detain undocumented immigrants, leading to stand-offs over jurisdiction between local and federal authorities.
Minneapolis police said they had not been provided with any additional information from federal counterparts following Saturday’s shooting.
“I just saw a video of more than six masked agents, pummelling one of our constituents, shooting him to death,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey at a press conference on Saturday.
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?”
Minnesota governor Tim Walz called for the administration to remove federal agents from the city and allow local authorities to carry out any investigation that takes place.
“Federal occupation of Minnesota long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement,” Walz told a press conference.
“It’s a campaign of organised brutality against the people of our state. And today, that campaign claimed another life.”
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