LOS ANGELES – Authorities confirmed Saturday that the man shot dead by US federal agents earlier in the morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota was a US citizen.
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference that the victim was a 37-year-old white male and a resident of Minneapolis.
“We believe he is an American citizen,” O’Hara said.
He said the man was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.
The police chief urged people to “remain peaceful.”
“We recognize that there is a lot of anger and a lot of questions around what has happened,” he said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he had watched a video that appeared to show “more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death.”
“How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?” asked the mayor at a news conference.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that “as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.”
“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted,” said the statement. “Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots.”
Witnesses were quoted as saying by local media that the man was struck multiple times in the chest before being transported to a nearby hospital.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said on X that he “just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning.”
“Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,” said the governor. “The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
Following the fatal shooting, Walz authorized the activation of the Minnesota National Guard to assist local law enforcement at the request of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
“The state has the personnel to keep people safe — federal agents must not obstruct our ability to do so,” said Walz.
This incident marks the third shooting involving federal law enforcement officers in the city this month. The first occurred on Jan 7, when a 37-year-old US citizen, Renee Good, was fatally shot by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. On Jan 14, an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan national in the leg during an attempted arrest, according to the DHS.