The incident
Last evening, in North Minneapolis, an ICE agent shot and wounded a suspect. It was the second shooting involving an ICE agent in Minneapolis in the past week.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), last evening at 6:50 pm, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were conducting targeted enforcement of wanted individuals and attempted to stop a Venezuelan man as he drove a car in North Minneapolis. The suspect refused to stop and fled the agents in his car, a move that always endangers the public, the subject of arrest, and the law enforcement officers doing their jobs. The suspect crashed his vehicle, and attempted to flee on foot before an ICE agent tackled him near 600 North 24th Ave. The suspect resisted arrest and fought with the agent, and while this was occurring two other men came out of an apartment building and began striking the ICE agent with a broom handle and a shovel.
The agent, “fearing for his life,” fired one round striking the original suspect in the leg. That suspect and the two men who assaulted the ICE agent then fled and barricaded themselves in the apartment building. ICE agents eventually made entry and arrested all three. The suspect who was shot was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The agent who was assaulted was also transported to the hospital for evaluation. It’s unclear at this time what injuries he may have sustained.
The investigation
Authorities stated that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) responded to conduct follow up investigation into the use of force. It can be assumed that DHS requested the FBI’s response, but it’s unclear who requested the BCA to respond. The BCA does not self-deploy to such incidents but rather responds as a service to agencies requesting their resources. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated that the FBI and the BCA were on scene collecting evidence. We must trust that the FBI and BCA agents and their executives will make the right decisions to coordinate this effort in a productive way and not create two competing and conflicting sets of facts.
As I have said, there is no concern with the BCA’s ability to conduct follow up investigations on officers use of force – they are the gold standard in Minnesota. In fact, they are far more experienced than the FBI in conducting such investigations. The concern on the part of federal authorities is ensuring the results of the investigations go to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for review, not the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO). Far too many state and local officials, including the HCAO under County Attorney Mary Moriarty, have consistently dismissed the presumption of innocence that must be afforded to every law enforcement officer put in the position of using deadly force. Federal authorities are correct, in the current environment, to use their prerogative to keep the matter under federal jurisdiction and out of the hands of politically charged and compromised local authorities.
The aftermath
Last evening the scene of the shooting on 24th Ave. turned violent. Chief O’Hara called for mutual aid assistance from the State Patrol and the Hennepin County Sheriff. The chief confirmed that the mob of activists had become violent, throwing objects and firing fireworks at law enforcement.
At least one of the federal agents’ cars was surrounded and an activist entered the car and punched the agent in the face before fleeing. Other agents’ vehicles that had been abandoned due to the mob were surrounded. Video aired live on Facebook shows the mob breaking into at least two of the vehicles and ripping gun safes out of the vehicles. Video and audio of the mob, demonstrates clearly that these individuals are not “fearful” or “traumatized” but rather out of control and lawless.
Why is this happening with such regularity?
State and local officials have gaslit the surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota such that we now have a near constant state of “resistance.”
Our Democrat governor, US senators and representatives, Minnesota legislators, mayors and city council members have repeatedly called our federal agents the “Gestapo,” “troops,” and “occupiers.” They’ve called the surge in enforcement an illegal “invasion.” They have likened the work of our immigration enforcement agents to 1930’s Germany Nazis, and claimed agents are going “door to door” looking for people of color. They’ve falsely suggested agents are targeting churches, schools and daycares. When agents have used force, their actions have been called “terrifying” and “brutal.” Some of our officials openly refer to last week’s fatal shooting of Renee Good a “murder.”
For months these officials have used this rhetoric to gin up fear and division over legitimate enforcement of our immigration laws – and the predictable result has been hysteria resulting in chaos and violence.
Thousands of activists who have been trained to increase tensions and incite violence have taken the message to heart. They follow, harass, interfere, and assault immigration agents wherever they can be found. They have staged a near constant and chaotic presence at the Whipple Building by Fort Snelling which is the site of some immigration detention and courtrooms. They have descended upon hotels where agents are believed to be staying during the surge. They have staged protests and “doxed” businesses who have dared to serve agents food, rent them cars, or offer any help to the agents. And perhaps worst of all, they have persuaded many of those who support the efforts of our immigration authorities to go silent and to stay under the radar for fear of harassment by these unhinged activists.
While the mob converged upon agents, officers, troopers, and deputies, Governor Walz made a statewide statement on television, where he encouraged Minnesotans to continue to oppose ICE and use their cellphones to document the “atrocities” being carried out.
And so, the gaslighting continues and the divisions widen.
