Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he has issued an order to prepare the state’s National Guard while urging peaceful protest after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman in her car during operations in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Walz and the Minneapolis mayor are disputing the government’s claims surrounding what led up to the shooting, which killed a 37-year-old woman who has been identified by city council members as Renee Nicole Good, a resident of the city.
“We have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever,” Walz said during a news conference, decrying the shooting as “preventable” and “unnecessary.”
According to Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, the woman was allegedly “attempting to run over our law enforcement officers” when an ICE officer fatally shot her Wednesday morning.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the incident was an “act of domestic terrorism” and argued that the vehicle was a “deadly weapon.”
“Deadly force is perfectly lawful when a threat is faced by a weapon,” she said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Following the shooting, a large crowd gathered in the area, which is less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed in May 2020.
The governor said he has issued a “warning order” to prepare the Minnesota National Guard, saying there are soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed “if necessary,” while urging “peaceful resistance.”
“I want Minnesotans to hear this from me: The desire to get out in the protest and to speak up to this administration of how wrong this is, that is a patriotic duty at this point in time, but it needs to be done safely,” he said.
“I feel your anger, I am angry. They want a show, we can’t give it to them,” Walz said.
A Minnesota National Guard spokesperson said following the briefing that it is “conducting necessary preparations to assist state authorities in protecting property and ensuring public safety if so ordered,” and that there has not been an official request for support yet.
Based on video and photos from the scene in Minneapolis following the shooting, law enforcement deployed crowd control measures, including tear gas and pepper spray on some protesters. As a large law enforcement presence gathered, some protesters could be seen throwing snowballs at officers. One held a sign that said “shame.”
President Donald Trump said the officer acted in “self defense.”
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense,” Trump posted on social media.
DHS also said the officer fired “defensive shots.”
The Minneapolis mayor, however, at an impassioned news conference, said that he saw video of the incident and claimed the agent’s actions were not self-defense.
“This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying — getting killed,” Mayor Jacob Frey said.
Frey said it does not appear the victim was driving her car toward the agent and using her car as a weapon. She was a U.S. citizen who was “an observer” and was “watching out for our immigrant neighbors,” according to Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez.
Frey said his message to ICE is to “get the f— out” of Minneapolis.
“We’ve dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ICE presence in Minneapolis,” Frey said.
Minneapolis police said preliminary information indicates that she was in her car and blocking the road.
“At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off,” police said. “At least two shots were fired … the vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
“There is nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity,” police added.
The woman had gunshot wounds to the head and was transported to an area hospital, where she died, according to city officials.
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In describing the shooting, McLaughlin said that an ICE officer, “fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.”
“He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers,” she said, referring to the woman as part of a group of “rioters.”
Noem alleged that the woman did not comply with ICE agents’ orders to get out of her car before she “proceeded to weaponize her vehicle.”
“We had law enforcement officers that were out there doing an enforcement action, and a vehicle got stuck in the snow, and so they had called for other people to come and help them get that vehicle out,” she said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “Those officers were trying to free the vehicle when the harassment started, when the protesters were out there impeding their vehicles and preventing them from leaving the scene.”
Asked to respond to Frey’s remarks questioning that this was self-defense, Noem said, “he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“It’s very clear that this individual was harassing and impeding law enforcement operations,” she said. “Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he’s been taught to do in that situation, and took actions to defend himself and defend his fellow law enforcement officers.”
Noem said the officer was struck by the vehicle and has since been treated and released from a hospital.
She said she has spoken to Walz about the shooting.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working in conjunction with the FBI to investigate the shooting, according to Commissioner Bob Jacobson.
“Keep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy, so any speculation about what had happened would be just that, and we will not engage in speculation,” Jacobson said during the briefing.
Walz said earlier on X that the state will “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
The FBI said in a statement, “Consistent with our investigative protocol, the incident is under review, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners.”
The Twin Cities are seeing a massive deployment of ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents to conduct immigration enforcement and fraud investigations, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans.
As many as 2,000 agents from ICE and HSI could be headed to the Minneapolis area, but a source cautioned that the number of agents could change.