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.
