A US immigration officer on an enforcement raid in Minneapolis has shot dead a woman in a car, provoking outrage from residents and politicians in the city.
The federal agents deployed by the Trump administration shot and killed the woman as she drove her vehicle in the street where they were operating.
The shooting was captured on video, taking place as the driver of a dark red SUV tried to slowly drive away from agents who were ordering her to get out of the vehicle and trying to open its door.
In a social media statement President Trump defended the ICE officers, saying that he had watched a video clip of the incident which he called a “horrible thing to watch”. He described the woman who was shot dead in her car as “very disorderly, obstructing and resisting” and said she “violently, wilfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defence”.
The US Department for Homeland Security described the driver as a “domestic terrorist” who “weaponized her vehicle” and attempted “to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them”. It stated: “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.”
Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis held a press conference in which he told the ICE immigration officers to leave the city. He said the Department for Homeland Security was: “trying to spin this as an action of self-defence. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bullshit.” He accused the ICE agents of terrorising citizens, saying: “People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Longterm Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy are being terrorized and now, somebody is dead.”
Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Nada Tawfik.
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