A US immigration agent has shot dead a 37-year-old woman in the city of Minneapolis, sparking protests overnight.
Federal officials said the woman, Renee Nicole Good, had tried to run over immigration agents with her car but the city mayor said the agent who shot her had acted recklessly.
Videos of the incident show ICE agents approaching a car which is in the middle of the street. As it attempts to drive off, one of them points his gun at the driver and at least two shots are heard. The FBI is investigating.
Hundreds of ICE agents have been deployed to Minneapolis, in the state of Minnesota, as part of the White House’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Videos posted to social media by onlookers appear to show the moment of the shooting, which occurred around 10:25 local time on Wednesday morning.
From various vantage points, a maroon SUV can be seen blocking a residential street in Minneapolis.
A crowd of people, who appear to be protesting, are lining the pavement.
Law enforcement vehicles appear nearby. ICE agents (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) pull up to the vehicle parked in the street, emerge from the truck and tell the woman behind the wheel to get out of the SUV. One of the agents tugs at the driver’s side door handle.
Another agent is positioned near the front of the vehicle.
It’s not clear exactly how close the agent is standing or whether he was struck by the vehicle based on the videos reviewed immediately by the BBC.
That agent opens fire as the maroon SUV attempts to drive off.
The vehicle can be seen losing control and crashing into a car parked nearby along the street.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said an ICE officer was “viciously” run over. “It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital,” he wrote.
The Republican president also blamed the “Radical Left” for “threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis”.
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said the driver was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue. She was then approached on foot by a federal law enforcement officer, “and she began to drive off”.
