A woman was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday, in an incident an eyewitness says contradicts the government's narrative of self-defense. The shooting occurred during an immigration enforcement operation in a residential neighborhood.
Eyewitness Account Contradicts Official Story
Emily Heller, 39, stepped outside her home around 9:30 a.m. after hearing community alerts about ICE agents' presence. She observed a woman in a vehicle blocking a convoy of six or seven ICE vehicles on a one-way street. "The ICE agents got out of their vehicles and were screaming at her to 'move, move, move,'" Heller told HuffPost.
Heller stated the woman initially did not move, prompting agents to approach her driver's side door, seemingly to drag her out. "She was obviously scared — she was going to leave," Heller said. The witness described the woman reversing slightly before moving forward. At that moment, one ICE agent stepped in front of the car, leaned across the hood, and fired three or four shots, seemingly into the driver's face.
Other eyewitness videos corroborate Heller's version, showing multiple armed agents approaching the vehicle and attempting to open the driver's door before shots were fired as the car began to leave.
Government Claims of 'Domestic Terrorism' Disputed
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem framed the event differently, calling the victim's actions an "act of domestic terrorism" against ICE officers. Noem claimed the woman "attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle," forcing an officer to act "quickly and defensively."
Heller strongly refuted this. "No way," she said of the self-defense claim, noting the agent "put himself in front of her." This incident echoes other cases during President Donald Trump's second term where federal agents have been accused of misrepresenting their actions during immigration enforcement. In a similar Chicago case, charges were dropped against a driver shot by agents after a judge questioned the evidence.
Aftermath and Community Trauma
After the shooting, the vehicle accelerated before hitting a telephone pole and other cars. Heller said it took approximately 15 minutes for emergency responders to arrive. During that time, a bystander who identified as a physician was denied permission to check the victim's pulse by an armed, masked agent who told him, "I don't care."
Heller's video captures the tense scene, including her own emotional outcry: "How can I relax? You just killed my fucking neighbor... You're killing my neighbors; you're stealing my neighbors." She described the victim being carried out by her limbs "like a sack of potatoes" because responders lacked a stretcher.
"The ICE agents are untrained, they are unprofessional, and they're now murderers," Heller concluded. "It feels like my neighborhood is being terrorized."
