ICE tried to block the Minneapolis Police Department from securing the scene after at least one federal law enforcement agent shot and killed a man on Saturday.
Sources told the Minnesota Star Tribune that ICE agents attempted to order local police away from the area. Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara refused, and the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension came in to process the scene.
Witnesses to the shooting were reportedly taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which has served as home base for ICE agents in Minneapolis. The Daily Beast reached out to ICE and the MPD for comment.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose office covers Minneapolis, shared in an X post that local officials expect ICE to cooperate with its investigation into the incident. She also asked witnesses to share their video evidence.
“The scene must be secured by local law enforcement for preservation of evidence,” Moriarty said. “We expect the federal government to allow the BCA to process the scene.”
Social media videos showed the 37-year-old man, who has not yet been identified by name, struggling while being held down by ICE agents. In a press briefing on Saturday, O’Hara said the man killed by ICE agents was a “37-year-old white male who is a Minneapolis resident, and we believe he is an American citizen.”
The videos show that multiple gunshots are fired, and some agents begin to leave the scene. Witnesses told the Star Tribune that the victim was shot in the chest and given CPR, but he ultimately died after being taken to the hospital.
The Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Beast that the man “had a firearm with 2 magazines” and shared a photo of the gun they claimed belonged to the victim. DHS noted that the situation was “evolving.”
This is the third ICE shooting in Minneapolis in less than three weeks. Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot in the head and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, 43, after she dropped her son off at school on Jan. 7. Agents shot another man, who they described as an “illegal alien from Venezuela,” in the leg a week later on Jan. 14.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he called the White House and asserted that the state would be investigating Saturday’s fatal shooting.
“I told the White House the state must lead the investigation,” Walz posted on X. “Let state investigators secure justice. As we process the scene, stay peaceful and give them space. The State has the personnel to keep people safe – federal agents must not obstruct our ability to do so.”
