A man is fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis : NPR

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

US federal agents shot and killed another person in Minneapolis. This is the third such shooting and the second death in the city this month. Local and state officials are again calling on the Trump administration to remove its agents from Minnesota. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden is in Minneapolis. Jennifer, thank you for being with us.

JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.

SIMON: What can you tell us about what happened?

LUDDEN: Well, we know the shooting happened around 9 o’clock this morning outside a donut shop south of downtown. The victim was a 37-year-old man. And from there we got conflicting information. The Department of Homeland Security tweeted a statement saying agents were conducting a targeted operation. They said he was an illegal immigrant to the United States wanted for violent assault. DHS says the man approached Border Patrol agents with a semi-automatic handgun. They tried to disarm him. He resisted them and the officers fired defensive shots, fearing for their lives.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters he did not know what happened until his officers arrived on the scene. But the victim was identified, and he said authorities believed he was a U.S. citizen, a white man with no criminal record and that he was a legal gun owner with the right to carry it. Police Chief O’Hara also said there had been an unlawful assembly of protesters and he urged people to evacuate and remain calm. And I was there this morning. Dozens and dozens of people rushed to the scene to protest ICE but didn’t know exactly what happened.

SIMON: Governor Walz also spoke, as well as the mayor of Minneapolis…

LUDDEN: Yes.

SIMON: Right?

LUDDEN: Yes. Gov. Tim Walz released a statement saying it was sickening. He said on social media that he called on the Trump administration to remove, quote, “thousands of violent, untrained officers from Minnesota now.” You know, this comes after weeks of local residents describing, you know, what they consider to be really aggressive treatment by these officers. Some American citizens have been arrested. Refugees here have been legally detained. Mayor Jacob Frey spoke at a press conference this morning and said that, you know, this is a partisan political narrative, and he’s just tired of residents being blamed for the tense situation here. Let’s hear from Mayor Frey.

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JACOB FREY: So, everyone listening, support Minneapolis. Defend America. Know that your children will ask you whose side you were on. Your grandchildren will ask you what you did to prevent this from happening again.

SIMON: Jennifer, I know you were at the scene of the murder. Tell us what you saw there and how people seem to react.

LUDDEN: You know, there’s just a lot of anger. And let me just note that this comes a day after a huge protest, very peaceful, quite happy, in a sense, sad but joyful, in a sense, yesterday, which I was also at. Thousands of people gathered, many of the signs making puns about ICE and asking them to get out, demanding that they get out, people saying they were worried about their neighbors, their co-workers who were arrested, just about their city, which they feel has been targeted. And you know, there are people who are hiding, who are afraid to come out. It was a very peaceful demonstration.

And now this morning, after the shooting, dozens of people actually came to the scene. They set up barricades. They were chanting ICE, Get Out. And then the local police really pushed them back. There were blocks and blocks blocked off with yellow tape and several shots of tear gas trying to clear the scene.

You know, Rachel Sayre is the city’s emergency management officer. She also spoke about the human impact this is having – a profound impact – especially on the many people who are afraid to go out. Let’s listen to it.

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RACHEL SAYRE: Families whose loved ones are detained and those who are afraid to be in public, for fear of becoming targets, need help accessing the most basic necessities, like food, shelter and transportation to school. Businesses are closing their doors and our local economy is being hit hard, meaning families are suffering just as we reach the turning point in our recovery.

LUDDEN: Yeah. Families therefore suffer. Businesses are suffering. People here are just wondering how long this will last. They really want the thousands of federal agents here to go away.

SIMON: NPR’s Jennifer Ludden in Minneapolis. Thank you so much.

LUDDEN: Thank you.

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