Washington: Federal agents have shot another person in Minneapolis as the city rapidly becomes the epicentre of a national reckoning over President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and protests against it, egged on by Democrats.
The Department of Homeland Security said the shooting occurred when an illegal alien from Venezuela fled a targeted traffic stop and crashed his car, before attempting to flee on foot.
As law enforcement officers tried to apprehend the man, two other people exited a nearby apartment and “attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle”, as did the initial subject, DHS said.
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said. “The initial subject was hit in the leg. All three subjects ran back into the apartment and barricaded themselves inside.”
The department said the attacked officer and the target were both in hospital, while the other two people were in custody. Local officials had not yet given an account of the incident.
US television networks showed large crowds gathered at the scene of the shooting, which was being guarded by masked police with guns.
The incident, which occurred about 7pm local time on Wednesday (midday Thursday AEDT), comes exactly one week after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old mother Renee Good in Minneapolis during a protest against the immigration agency.
Good was in her car and appeared to be attempting to leave the scene when Ross shot her in the head. The Trump administration has said Good was using her vehicle as a weapon, and attempted to run Ross over. He walked from the scene but sustained injuries and was taken to hospital, the administration said.
ICE has dispatched about 2000 agents to Minnesota, focused on Minneapolis, in what the agency called its largest enforcement operation ever. The city is now a tinderbox, with anti-ICE protesters gathering daily and frequently clashing with law enforcement.
In its statement on the latest shooting, DHS blamed Minnesota’s Democratic leaders – Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey – for “actively encouraging an organised resistance to ICE and federal law enforcement officers”.
“Their hateful rhetoric and resistance against men and women who are simply trying to do their jobs must end,” DHS said.
Walz on Thursday (AEDT) delivered a video message to Minnesotans saying ICE was conducting “a campaign of organised brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government”.
He alleged ICE agents were indiscriminately pulling people over, ordering people to point out where their “neighbours of colour” lived, breaking windows, “dragging pregnant women down the street [and] just plain grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans”.
In the immediate aftermath of Good’s death, Frey said ICE needed to “get the f— out of Minneapolis”.
The administration has by-and-large maintained resolute defence of Ross and ICE agents, even declaring they enjoyed absolute immunity from prosecution in the course of their duties, while branding Good and her fellow protesters “domestic terrorists”.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said on Fox News: “To all ICE officers, you have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties, and anybody who lays a hand on you, or tries to stop you, or tries to obstruct you, is committing a felony.
“You have immunity to perform your duties and no one – no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist – can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.”
Trump has previously voiced full support for Ross and joined the condemnation of Good. But on Thursday he struck a more balanced tone in an interview with newswire Reuters.
“It’s sad to see on both sides,” Trump told Reuters. “I don’t get into right or wrong. I know that it was a tough situation to be in … There was very little respect shown to the police, in this case, the ICE officers.”
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via Twitter or email.
