Federal immigration officer wounds man in north Minneapolis amid heavy ICE deployment

A federal immigration officer shot and wounded a Venezuelan man during a targeted traffic stop in north Minneapolis, triggering hours of confrontations between heavily armed federal agents and local residents and protesters. The man suffered a leg wound that was not life threatening and was taken to a hospital; the federal officer was also hospitalized and two bystanders were arrested, officials said.

The shooting took place at about 6:50 p.m. in the 600 block of 24th Avenue N, where federal authorities had been conducting an operation to arrest the man, identified by DHS as present in the United States without authorization. Federal officials said the man fled, resisted and assaulted the officer; they said two people emerged from a nearby building and together with the targeted man attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle. The officer fired, striking the man in the leg. Local police independently confirmed that a man had been shot and transported to a hospital and that authorities subsequently declared an unlawful assembly.

Following the shooting, clashes swelled across several blocks as federal officers, outfitted in gas masks and helmets, deployed tear gas and flash-bang devices. Demonstrators responded by throwing rocks, fireworks and, according to official accounts, ice and snowballs. Smoke-filled streets and repeated uses of chemical agents were reported as state patrol officers staged to support crowd control and federal ICE agents began to withdraw. Local reporting and eyewitnesses said more than 100 demonstrators gathered, and in one reported incident two children, ages 2 years and six months, were taken to a hospital after the younger briefly had trouble breathing.

The Jan. 14 shooting comes amid a months-long Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minnesota that federal officials have described as the largest the department has yet undertaken. DHS says the operation has led to more than 2,400 arrests; other estimates place the number of federal personnel deployed in the Twin Cities in the low thousands. The increased presence has sharply escalated tensions in Minneapolis since an earlier fatal encounter on Jan. 7, when an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good in south Minneapolis. That death prompted sustained protests, conflicting official accounts and an FBI investigation.

The incidents have produced immediate legal and political fallout. Minnesota state officials have sued the federal government seeking to halt the deployment of immigration agents, and several employees in the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota resigned amid concerns about how the Jan. 7 case was handled. City leaders and community groups have demanded a withdrawal of ICE from Minneapolis. Mayor Jacob Frey said the city faces an "impossible situation" as local authorities juggle public safety, accountability and mounting community anger.

Public health and equity concerns are acute. Medical workers and advocates warn that aggressive enforcement and confrontations can deter immigrant communities from seeking emergency care and social services, intensifying risks for children and those with chronic conditions. The repeated use of chemical agents in residential neighborhoods also raises questions about respiratory harm and the capacity of local hospitals to absorb surges in patients during civil unrest.

Investigations by federal and local authorities into both the Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 incidents are ongoing, and significant elements of the sequence of events remain disputed. Authorities say they are reviewing actions by officers and bystanders; residents and advocates say the scale and tactics of the federal response demand immediate public scrutiny.