U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of murder in Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis activist.
“ICE just murdered a U.S. citizen,” Crockett, a U.S. Senate hopeful, said Wednesday afternoon in a social media post shared across multiple platforms.
An ICE agent shot a woman in the face and she died immediately, according multiple media reports. The woman was an activist leading a vehicle blockade to prevent ICE vehicles from accessing a snowy Minneapolis street, NPR reports, citing eyewitnesses’ accounts.
Department of Homeland Security officials said the ICE agent who fired the shots was afraid for his life and believed the now-deceased driver, 37, was trying to run him over.
In a statement, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin alleged the woman “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.”
However, people who witnessed the incident said it looked like the woman was trying to flee, according to NPR’s reporting.
Crockett called the shooting “dangerous state-sanctioned violence” and “the direct result of racist rhetoric coming from [President] Donald Trump.”
“We will not stay silent while unqualified masked federal agencies terrorize our communities,” she added.
Details are still emerging on the breaking story, but video footage from the scene appears to shows a vehicle attempting to leave as an ICE agent steps in front of it and fires several shots point blank at the driver.
After being hit, the woman behind the wheel, slumped over and the vehicle accelerated into a nearby telephone pole, according to the witness interviewed by NPR.
Like Crockett, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey didn’t mince words about the incident when he spoke during a Wednesday press conference.
“I have a message for ICE,” Frey said. “To ICE: get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”
“We do not want you here,” he continued. “Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”
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