Thursday | 15th January 2026
Minneapolis officials pleaded for calm late Wednesday as volatile confrontations broke out near the site of a shooting involving a federal immigration agent, further inflaming a city already reeling from the killing of a woman by federal authorities just a week earlier.
The latest incident unfolded in a residential neighborhood roughly 10 minutes from downtown Minneapolis, where federal agents shot and wounded a man during what the Department of Homeland Security described as a “targeted traffic stop.” The shooting came amid heightened tensions following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer — a killing that sparked nationwide protests and intensified scrutiny of the growing federal law enforcement presence in the city.
According to DHS, the man shot Wednesday is a Venezuelan national who the agency said is in the United States illegally. Federal officials allege the encounter escalated after the man resisted arrest and violently assaulted an officer. He was shot in the leg and transported to a nearby hospital with injuries described by city officials as non-life-threatening.
Within hours of the shooting, crowds gathered near the scene, confronting law enforcement as emotions boiled over. Officers responded by deploying multiple tear gas canisters, pepper balls and devices that sounded like flash bangs, according to reporters on the ground. Authorities eventually ordered demonstrators to disperse, declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly.
“I urge anyone that is at the scene to leave immediately,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a late-night news conference. “This is an unlawful assembly, and it is not safe.”
Mayor Jacob Frey struck a similar tone while attempting to draw a distinction between peaceful protest and escalating unrest.
“For those who have peacefully protested, I applaud you,” Frey said. “For those who are taking the bait, you are not helping — and you are not helping the undocumented immigrants of our city. You are not helping the people who call this place home.”
DHS says agent fired ‘defensive shots’
Federal officials said the confrontation began around 6:50 p.m. when agents attempted to stop the man’s vehicle. DHS alleges the suspect fled, crashed into a parked car and then ran from officers on foot. When an agent caught up to him and attempted to make an arrest, the man resisted and assaulted the officer, the agency said.
During the struggle, DHS claimed that two additional individuals emerged from a nearby apartment building and attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle. After briefly breaking free and rejoining the altercation, the suspect was shot when the officer fired what DHS described as “defensive shots,” striking him in the leg.
The three individuals then retreated into the apartment building and barricaded themselves inside, according to DHS. The agency did not specify how long the standoff lasted.
Chief O’Hara said one person who had been shot during a “struggle” with law enforcement later refused to exit the residence. Federal agents eventually made entry, removed the individual and transported him by ambulance to the hospital. Both the officer and the initial suspect remain hospitalized, DHS said, while the two other individuals involved are now in custody. The agency did not provide details about how those arrests unfolded.
The federal government’s account could not immediately be independently verified.
City leaders warn situation is ‘not sustainable’
The latest shooting has deepened anxiety in Minneapolis, where residents and leaders say tensions have been pushed to a breaking point by repeated violent encounters involving federal immigration officers.
“There’s still a lot that we don’t know at this time,” Frey said. “But what I can tell you for certain is that this is not sustainable.”
Once again, the mayor demanded that ICE halt operations in the city, arguing that the federal presence is placing Minneapolis in an untenable position.
“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in,” Frey said. “At the same time, we are trying to find a way forward — to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order. We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the mayor’s call for restraint, urging residents not to allow anger to spiral into violence.
“I know you’re angry. I’m angry,” Walz wrote on X late Wednesday. “What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets. But Minnesota will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace. Don’t give him what he wants.”
Smoke, vandalism and mounting anger
As night fell, smoke lingered over the neighborhood as law enforcement continued to disperse demonstrators. A CNN correspondent, Whitney Wild, was struck by a tear gas canister while reporting from the scene. At one point, video showed a member of the crowd throwing a gas canister back toward officers, who kicked it away.
CNN footage also captured two vehicles that appeared to have been recently vandalized and ransacked. One car was spray-painted with the words “F*ck ICE,” while another bore the message “America land of the obey or die.” Both vehicles were left with trunks open and debris scattered across the street. It was not immediately clear who owned the cars.
Demonstrators followed federal agents through the surrounding streets as officers formed a defensive line behind yellow police tape to block traffic and keep crowds at bay. Convoys of Minneapolis Police Department officers and Minnesota State Patrol units were seen arriving at the scene.
While local law enforcement does not participate in immigration enforcement, O’Hara emphasized that Minneapolis police are routinely deployed to critical incidents involving federal agencies to protect public safety and maintain order.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is now processing evidence at the shooting site, O’Hara said. A BCA mobile command center was visible at the scene Wednesday night, flanked by federal agents securing the perimeter.
The presence of state investigators was particularly notable, given that federal authorities previously prevented the BCA from participating in the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good — a decision that drew sharp criticism from city and state leaders.
As Minneapolis braces for more protests, officials warned that the city remains on edge, caught between mounting public outrage and a federal immigration crackdown that local leaders say is pushing the community toward another breaking point.