Fatal shooting of woman by ICE officer has the Twin Cities and political leaders on edge

A day of escalating tension as ICE agents shoot and kill a woman in Minneapolis, now identified as 37-year old Renee Nicole Good of Minneapolis, a mother of three.

Witness video shows Good driving away from ICE agents who had approached her driver's side window. Police confirm she was shot in the face, and a man WCCO spoke with says he saw it happen.

"When those two guys walked up to in front of her, she tried driving away. She took a right turn so she wouldn't hit the guy, but that guy near the front corner of her car shot her in the head three times," he said.

So far Thursday, there is a small gathering near 33rd and Portland Ave. South where the shooting took place. There is a larger, planned protest for that area at noon.

Also Thursday, community and faith leaders are marching to the Whipple Federal Building near Fort Snelling. That began in the 7:00 a.m. hour. All protests up until this point had been peaceful, as both Minneapolis and state leaders pleaded for on Wednesday.

But reports in that area now showed numerous interactions between federal officials and protesters, with what looks like pepper spray and tear gas being deployed. WCCO's Mark Freie is on the scene and will provide more details.

Federal officials, including Homeland security and President Donald Trump himself, rushed out statements to carve the narrative of what happened from their perspective, calling the woman an "agitator" and a "domestic terrorist," and alleging she weaponized her vehicle and attempted to run over agents.

The comments from federal officials did not sit well with city leaders.  The incident ignited a fierce war of words between local and federal officials over conflicting accounts of the violence.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara have publicly rejected that narrative.

"Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly: that's bulls***," Frey said. "That is this was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying."

As Minneapolis police and the Minnesota BCA investigate the tragedy, city leaders are demanding that federal agents leave the city and the state immediately to prevent further chaos.

O'Hara told CBS Mornings his officers have been caught in the middle between federal immigration agents and protesters.

"We recognize quite obviously that this has been building over the course of several weeks," says O'Hara. "This was entirely predictable."

O'Hara called for a thorough investigation of the shooting, but noted most police agencies train their officers not to stand in front of unarmed motorists.

"I would hope no matter what side of politics people are on, we can recognize that the loss of a human life is a tragedy," O'Hara adds.

Those sides also led to a heated exchange in the U.S. House with Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig (DFL) and Rep. and House Whip Tom Emmer (R) being caught on camera getting in each other's face.

"I mean, it's just shocking what happened yesterday," Craig told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News. "And I called him out for the political stunt that this administration is pulling in Minnesota, sending 2,000 ICE agents to our state, to our cities. I called him out for being an apologist for this president and this administration, and it did get heated."

Craig says Emmerly angrily responded, telling her to "take a walk."

The FBI and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating the case. Wednesday evening in Minneapolis, Noem doubled down on labeling the shooting a result of domestic terrorism, and accusing Good of weaponizing her car in an attempt to hit federal officers.

"This domestic act of terrorism to use your vehicle to try to kill law enforcement officers is going to stop, and I'm asking the Department of Justice to prosecute it as domestic terrorism because it's clear that it's being coordinated," Noem alleged. "People are being trained and told how to use their vehicles to impede law enforcement operations, and then to run over anybody who gets in their way while they go out there and try to disrupt peace and public safety."

So far, Noem has given no evidence that any of those claims are true.

In a more ironic twist, Noem called on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and local law enforcement to work with immigration officials moving forward.

But Walz and local officials have been publicly pleading with federal officials to keep them in the loop on operations. Walz said Wednesday in his press conference that hasn't happened and it leaves local officials in the dark until - as in the case of Wednesday's shooting - it's too late.

Featured Image Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell'Orto)