A man has been summarily executred by US federal immigration officers in Minneapolis during ongoing enforcement operations sparking protests and renewed calls from local leaders to end the federal deployment.
The incident occurred around 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue Saturday morning as federal agents, part of a broader immigration crackdown known as Operation Metro Surge, confronted a man on a snow-covered street. Video circulating on social media shows people wearing masks and tactical gear wrestling with the man before multiple gunshots are heard, and he falls to the ground.
The Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the man was shot by a federal agent and later died at a hospital.
Nothing illegal, suspicious
Other videos showing the beginning of the confrontation demonstrate that the man was standing by, recording the ICE agents in the middle of what is presumed to be an arrest, and he did not appear to be doing anything unusual.
An ICE agent came up to the man and started shoving him before the remaining agents joined in and started brutally assaulting the man, kicking him as he fell on the ground, before at least two agents pulled out their handguns and fired over six shots at the victim.
Armed victim?
There were claims that the victim was armed, though there is no evidence that he pulled out his gun or pointed it toward any of the officers. There was a brawl in which the man was repeatedly pepper-sprayed, and even then, the squad, upwards of six agents, did not successfully subdue him, pointing to inefficient training.
The footage shared widely online and aired on cable TV shows agents grappling with the man in the snow before gunfire begins. Shortly after shots are heard, the individual falls to the ground. Another angle in a video obtained by Drop Site News shows that the man was instigated and illegally approached by the ICE agents before he was shot and killed.
In the videos, one agent says, “he’s got a gun,” but the footage shows that the gun was on the victim’s waistband and was not drawn. Only one agent saw the gun as the man was being assaulted, then the man was shot several times by several agents, even after he died.