MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal officers shot and killed a 37-year-old man in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Minneapolis Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said in a social media post that he had been in contact with the White House after the shooting. He called on President Donald Trump to end the crackdown in his state. The details surrounding the shooting weren’t immediately clear.
“The federal occupation of Minnesota long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. It is a campaign of organized brutality against the people of our state. And today, that campaign claimed yet another life,” Walz said.
He said the state, and not the federal government, will lead the investigation into the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, and ICU nurse.
“Minnesotans and our local law enforcement have done everything we can to deescalate. The federal government must deescalate. I once again call on the President to remove the 3,000 agents from Minnesota who are sowing chaos and violence.”
Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Associated Press in a text messages that person had a firearm with two magazines. The shooting came amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities since the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good.
The officer who fatally shot Minneapolis man during protest is an 8-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials say.
“Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now,” Walz said in a post on X.
The shooting came amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities since the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fired into her vehicle.
It also comes a day after thousands of demonstrators protesting the crackdown on immigrants crowded the city’s streets in frigid weather, calling for federal law enforcement to leave.
Protests continue in Minneapolis
Protesters continued to converge at the scene of the shooting despite dangerously cold weather.
At Saturday midday, the worst of an extreme cold wave was over, but the temperature was still -6 degrees (-21 Celsius). The Arctic blast hadn’t deterred thousands of protesters from marching downtown Minneapolis on Friday afternoon to call for ICE to leave the Minnesota.”
The shooting happened amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities since the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fired into her vehicle. Saturday’s shooting unfolded just over a mile away from where Good was shot.
After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home. One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: “Boo hoo.” Agents elsewhere shoved a yelling protester into a car. Protesters dragged garbage dumpsters from alleyways to block the streets, and people who gathered chanted, “ICE out now,” referring to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
READ: Renee Good Was Killed by the Kind of State Violence Our Founding Fathers Warned Against
“They’re killing my neighbors!” said Minneapolis resident Josh Koskie.
Federal officers wielded batons and deployed flash bangs on the crowd.
Walz said he had been in contact with the White House after the shooting. He urged President Donald Trump to end what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.
The shooting happened a day after thousands of demonstrators protesting the crackdown on immigrants crowded the city’s streets in frigid weather, calling for federal law enforcement to leave.
Trump Responds
Trump posted to his Truth Social account after a man was killed by federal officers during an immigration enforcement action in Minneapolis. Trump’s statement said:
“This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — Not an easy thing to do! Why does Ilhan Omar have $34 Million Dollars in her account? And where are the Tens of Billions of Dollars that have been stolen from the once Great State of Minnesota? We are there because of massive Monetary Fraud, with Billions of Dollars missing, and Illegal Criminals that were allowed to infiltrate the State through the Democrats’ Open Border Policy. We want the money back, and we want it back, NOW. Those Fraudsters who stole the money are going to jail, where they belong! This is no different than a really big Bank Robbery. Much of what you’re witnessing is a COVER UP for this Theft and Fraud.
“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric! Instead, these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States of America. LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB! 12,000 Illegal Alien Criminals, many of them violent, have been arrested and taken out of Minnesota. If they were still there, you would see something far worse than you are witnessing today!””