An officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement shot and wounded a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening as he was reportedly fleeing a traffic stop.
When officers caught up with the man, he “began to resist and violently assault the officer,” according to a statement shared with The New York Times by Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. According to McLaughlin, two people exited a nearby building and assaulted an ICE officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle.
Fearing for his life, the officer fired shots, striking the Venezuelan man in the leg. Both the officer and the unnamed man were taken to a nearby hospital, and the two people who reportedly struck the officer were arrested. Minneapolis city officials said the man’s injuries were “non-life-threatening.”
“We understand there is anger. We ask the public to remain calm,” the officials said in a post on X.
BREAKING: ICE has just shot another person, this time in North Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/wg1Av0TVv5
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) January 15, 2026
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city is trying to “keep people safe” and “maintain order.”
“There’s still a lot that we don’t know at this time, but what I can tell you for certain is that this is not sustainable,” Frey said at a Wednesday night press conference. “This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in.”
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Following the shooting, protesters gathered near the scene of the incident. Chief Brian O’Hara of the Minneapolis police, said the protesters were “engaging in unlawful acts.”
BREAKING: Minneapolis looks like a war zone tonight.
ICE is out of control.pic.twitter.com/NWebR9CDOm
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 15, 2026
“They have thrown fireworks at police officers and at multiple times, gas has been deployed,” O’Hara said. The scene then quickly escalated as both Border Patrol agents and ICE officers arrived and deployed chemical agents and what appeared to be tear gas, as protesters reportedly pelted them with snowballs.
“It’s not like they’re talking to us,” one Minneapolis police officer supervisor said, trying to explain the federal agents’s actions on scene.
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