Noem says ‘act of domestic terrorism’ spurred fatal Minneapolis shooting; mayor sharply tells ICE to ‘get out’ – live

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Dispatch from the scene of the Minneapolis shooting

Rachel Leingang

Reporting from Minneapolis

I was at the scene of the shooting soon after it occurred, shadowing constitutional observers who have trained for months to monitor and respond to ICE activity in the state.

ICE vehicles, unmarked, lined the street, and yellow police tape cordoned off the area. By the time we arrived, many dozens of protesters and community members were outside, shouting at ICE agents and at the local police. More agents arrived.

People yelled at Minneapolis police to arrest the murderer – the ICE agent who shot the woman in a car. “What were you taught by your parents?” one woman yelled at the agents. A man on a bullhorn led some in a chant of “say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.” People repeatedly yelled for ICE to leave, to go home – to get out of Minneapolis.

This is the second day of an expected 30-day surge, which ICE has called its largest operation to date.

Trained observers went to the houses that looked out on to the streets, asking residents if they had any video they could share. One woman moved through the crowd quickly, telling people more were needed at a nearby school, where ICE had been seen.

City council members, the mayor and the police chief all came to the scene. Eventually, Minneapolis police took over, and ICE agents left. As agents left, people yelled and threw snowballs at their vehicles. The agents sprayed irritants at those who followed the vehicles and shot some pellets at them. Once they left the area, volunteer medics helped those who were hit with spray to clear their eyes.

After ICE left, observers heard more whistles blowing nearby – a sign ICE had moved to another part of south Minneapolis. Dozens took off toward the direction of the whistles. I jumped into a car with the observer I was shadowing to a scene a few blocks away, where ICE was outside a dollar store in a strip mall.

“This is just sad,” a man watching at the mall said to me.

For some wider context on the state of immigration custody in the US, my colleagues Maanvi Singh, Coral Murphy Marcos and Charlotte Simmonds have reported on the record number of deaths in ICE custody.

They report that 2025 was the deadliest year in more than two decades, as the Trump administration moved to detain a record number of people.

The number of deaths, 32, matched the previous record, set in 2004. These deaths occurred as the Trump administration ramped up its immigration operations, detaining a record number of people in December. The agency was holding 68,440 people in detention in mid-December; nearly 75% of them had no criminal convictions.

You can read their full report here:

'Don't believe this propaganda machine': Walz slams DHS justification for Minneapolis shooting

Minnesota governor Tim Walz has slammed the Department of Homeland Security’s justification for the shooting in Minneapolis today that killed a 37-year-old woman.

Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem claimed that federal agents were acting out of self-defense.

Walz was quick to push back. “I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” he wrote on social media. “The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”

Eyewitness videos seem to refute DHS’s argument. The maroon SUV is shown backing away from ICE officers as they approach the car, and attempt to open the driver’s door. One ICE officer that can be seen partially in front of the car as the driver moves forward and then away from the officers. That same ICE officer is seen firing his gun as the car appears to drive by him.

Noem says 'act of domestic terrorism' spurred Minneapolis shooting

While speaking at an unrelated press conference in Brownsville, Texas, Kristi Noem said today’s shooting in Minneapolis was provoked by an “act of domestic terrorism”.

The homeland security went on to say that the immigration agents on the scene were “attempting to push out their vehicle” due to the snow in the city. “The woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him,” Noem said.

O’Hara provided more details about today’s shooting and how the events unfolded. After Minneapolis police officers arrived on the scene, they found the woman with a gunshot wound to the head.

Life-saving measures were performed at the scene, including CPR, before the woman was transported to the Hennepin county medical center, where she was pronounced dead.

O’Hara added that the information they have indicates the woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway. “At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off,” the chief said. “At least two shots were fired, the vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”

Frey concluded the press conference by imploring Minneapolis residents to “unite around, hope and love and peace and getting justice”.

O’Hara said that the investigation into the shooting is now being led jointly by the FBI, as well as the Minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension. The latter will investigate whether any state laws have been violated.

Also speaking at today’s press conference in Minneapolis is the city’s police chief, Brian O’Hara. He noted that the victim today was “a middle-aged white woman”. Earlier, Frey noted the woman was 37 years old.

He added there was nothing to suggest that the woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity.

“This woman was in her car, and it appears, been blocking the street because of the presence of federal law enforcement,” O’Hara said, adding that he did not see anyone in the car when he arrived on the scene. The police chief said that a spouse has since arrived at the hospital.

At the press conference Frey said he did not yet have the identification of the ICE agent who shot and killed a woman during an enforcement operation today.

Minneapolis mayor calls DHS reasoning behind shooting "bullshit"

At a press conference today, the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, characterized the reason by the Department of Homeland Security for killing a woman during a large scale immigration operation as “bullshit”.

“To the family, I’m so deeply sorry,” Frey added. “There’s nothing that I can say right now that’s going to make you or your relatives, friends of the victim feel any better.”

He went on to issue a sharp message to federal immigration agents in the city.

“Get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here,” he added. “People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart … and now somebody is dead.”

Johnson says that he doesn't anticipate 'boots on the ground' after Venezuela briefing

The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, emerged from the closed-door meeting with top administration officials and his lower chamber colleagues about the capture of Nicolás Maduro convinced that there would be “no boots on the ground”.

“We don’t anticipate that’s going to be necessary,” the speaker said. “We went to apprehend a criminal. We did it with precision. It was justified, and that job has been done. We now hope that the people in Venezuela can govern themselves.”

On the topic of Republican response to any military operation in Greenland, former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has issued a sharp rebuke of the administration’s rhetoric around using force to acquire the territory.

“Threats and intimidation by US officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive,” the Kentucky lawmaker said in a statement. “The use of force to seize the sovereign democratic territory of one of America’s most loyal and capable allies would be an especially catastrophic act of strategic self-harm to America and its global influence.”

If there’s one question that Donald Trump’s Republican allies in Congress are struggling to answer these days, it’s how to respond to a potential US incursion aimed at taking control of the Danish territory of Greenland.

Consider how North Dakota senator Kevin Cramer responded when pressed by a reporter at the Capitol to answer whether such a military operation would require congressional approval.

“Well, it depends on what they would be doing there, but at this point, there’s no intention to do that,” he said.

And yet the White House just days ago issued a statement that sure made it sound like they were contemplating doing whatever was necessary to seize Greeland.

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal,” the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said.

Further pressed by reporters to weigh in on what seems to be an important question before Congress, Cramer demurred. “I’m not going to take that bait,” he said.

“I’m not going to speak to that hypothetical that’s very unlikely to ever come before us.”

When asked about the president’s comments that he’d be open to an operation in Colombia, and whether the country’s president, Gustavo Petro, “should be expecting Delta Force anytime”, Leavitt didn’t offer an answer.

“That would be a very unwise question for me to answer, to weigh into,” she said.

And asked whether Trump is still committed to Nato and the article 5 provision of the alliance’s members coming to each other’s defense, Leavitt points to Trump’s earlier comments on Nato in which he said that “we will always be there for Nato even if they are not there for us”.

(What she didn’t say was that Trump also said that Nato was dependent on the US to survive).