Federal agent shoots Minneapolis man in leg after shovel attack, officials say

A federal officer has shot a man in the leg in the US city of Minneapolis after being attacked with a shovel as he tried to make an arrest, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says.

In a statement on X, the DHS said Wednesday’s shooting happened after a car chase involving a Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally.

It ended in a crash and the driver was joined by two more people who all attacked the officer, it said. DHS said the man who was shot was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Tensions have been running high in the city since an immigration agent shot dead a woman last week, sparking protests that spread to other US cities.

On Wednesday night, clashes broke out between protesters and law enforcement in the Hawthorne area of Minneapolis, near the scene of the shooting.

City police chief Brian O’Hara said his officers were hit by fireworks, ice and snowballs.

Local media, including the Minnesota Star Tribune, reported that a number of vehicles believed to belong to the federal government were damaged in the disorder.

In a social media post on Thursday morning, US President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesota officials did not act to “stop the professional agitators”.

This is a 200-year-old law which allows the president to use active-duty military personnel for law enforcement duties within the US, and which Trump has previously said he might invoke elsewhere.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, said the situation in the city, where federal agents have been deployed against the wishes of local officials, was “unsustainable”.

The man wounded in Wednesday’s shooting was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries and an ICE officer was also taken to hospital to be treated for injuries, the DHS said.

The DHS statement said that after the pursuit the man got out of his car and an altercation broke out between him and the federal agent.

The agency added: “While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle.

“As the officer was being ambushed and attacked by the two individuals, the original subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick.”

The DHS statement went on to say, “fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots”, and added that “both attackers are in custody”.

Law enforcement officials who spoke to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, gave additional details of what happened in the aftermath of the shooting.

They said the Venezuelan national who was shot fled into a home and barricaded himself inside with three others.

This resulted in additional agents being called to the residence, which was then broken into with the help of a specialised ICE team, the officials said. All of those who were inside the home were believed to have been taken into custody.

The BBC could not immediately verify details in the statements.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters at the White House on Thursday: “Our agent is beat up, he’s bruised, he is injured, he’s getting treatment, and we’re thankful that he made it out alive.”

She added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were “following protocols that we have used for years” from before the Trump administration.

Around 3,000 federal officers have been deployed to Minnesota over recent weeks.

In a statement on X responding to reports of ICE shooting the man in the leg, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said: “Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It’s disgusting.”

The Democratic Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz made a direct appeal to Trump, a Republican, on Thursday.

“Let’s turn the temperature down,” Walz wrote on X.

The governor also urged Minnesotans to make their voices heard “peacefully”.

“We cannot fan the flames of chaos,” said the governor, who has previously referred to ICE as the “modern-day Gestapo”.

Tensions over immigration enforcement have been running high in the city since the fatal shooting on 7 January of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent.

The Trump administration says the ICE agent acted in self-defence, while local officials argue the woman posed no danger.

Videos of the incident show ICE agents approaching a car, which is in the middle of the street.

As Good attempts to drive off, one of them at the front of the vehicle points his gun at the driver and fires three shots. The FBI is investigating the incident.

An online fundraiser set up for Good’s widow and family has raised more than $1.4m. Another online fundraiser for Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent at the centre of the deadly confrontation, has raised $740,000.