ICE officer shoots Venezuelan man in the leg after resisting arrest as two others proceeded to attack federal agent leading to protests and discord erupting at the scene amid heightened tensions in the days since the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
Chaos and discord erupted in Minneapolis after a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a suspect in the leg during an arrest, early Wednesday evening.
The Department of Homeland Security said the suspect was an illegal migrant from Venezuela who ran away on foot during a traffic stop by ICE just on 6.50 p.m, before a pursuing ICE agent caught up with the man and a tussle ensuing before two others from a nearby apartment ran to attack the agent with a ‘broomstick and a shovel.’
#BREAKING An #ICE agent shot a #Venezuelan immigrant in the leg during a traffic stop in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14, 2026. DHS says the suspect & accomplices attacked the officer with improvised weapons, including a shovel; both were hospitalized with non-life-threatening inury pic.twitter.com/BYFW3lXsX1
— Thepagetoday (@thepagetody) January 15, 2026
DHS agent shooting of Venezuelan suspect leads to protests erupting and chaos erupting
The initial fleeing suspect was shot in the leg and remains in a stable condition in hospital. The two individual who descended on to the scene were also in police custody, with the agent involved taken to hospital after being set upon by the trio.
‘Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life. The initial subject was hit in the leg,’ DHS said in a statement according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
In the immediate moments after the shooting, a crowd of up to 100, descended on the area, with protestors using horns and whistles. Law enforcement officers wearing masks deployed tear gas and flash bangs on protesters at the scene.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged protesters to ‘go home,’ warning they were making matters worse and ‘taking the bait.’
‘It is not helpful. Go home. We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own chaos.
‘You are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city, you are not helping the people who call this place home,’ Frey implored.
‘American citizens are getting picked up off the street by people in masks. That’s not the way things should be conducted in any city in America. That’s not who we are, that’s not America,’ Frey said. ‘So I’m calling for peace. Everybody has a role in achieving that peace. We’re going to try do everything we can to keep it.’
By 10:38 p.m. KARE reported the scene fazing out, with authorities leaving the scene.
Unfolding pandemonium in spate of recent ICE clashes
The unfolding scene erupted some 4.5 miles north of where Minneapolis mom of 3, Renee Nicole Good, 37, was fatally shot at the hands of an ICE agent just seven days earlier after failing to get out of her vehicle after descending masked agents implored the woman blocking a road with her SUV to get out, only to be shot dead as she turned to drive away.
In the days since, Minneapolis has been in the grips of unrest, amid debate of Dept of Homeland Security agency over reach and questionable tactics, including the dragging of a disabled woman out of her car on Tuesday at the hands of ICE agents.
Responding to Wednesday’s episode, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the officer involved in the shooting ‘feared for his life and safety as he was ambushed by three individuals.
‘The officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,’ McLaughlin added.
The incident took place about 6.50pm local time as federal law enforcement officers conducted ‘a targeted traffic stop in Minneapolis of an illegal alien from Venezuela.’
Heightened civil unrest as ICE operations are ramped up by Trump administration
The criminal had allegedly been ‘released into the country’ by former president Joe Biden in 2022, DHS stated.
‘In an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car. The subject then fled on foot,’ McLaughlin said.
‘The law enforcement officer caught up to the subject on foot and attempted to apprehend him when the subject began to resist and violently assault the officer.’
During the melee, two more people ‘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.’
Authorities said the person who was shot in the leg was the initial subject of the targeted traffic stop.
‘The attacked officer and subject are both in the hospital. Both attackers are in custody.’
McLaughlin criticized Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey for their continued statements against ICE agents in the state, noting the duo are ‘actively encouraging an organized resistance to ICE and federal law enforcement officers.
‘Their hateful rhetoric and resistance against men and women who are simply trying to do their jobs must end,’ McLaughlin said.
‘Federal law enforcement officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest criminals and lawbreakers.’
More than 2,000 ICE agents have descended on the streets of Minneapolis amid concerns about rampant fraud within the local Somali community, as the Trump administration seeks to ramp up deportation efforts.
At least 60 agitators have been charged with impeding or assaulting immigration authorities in Minnesota in the last five days, ICE official Marcos Charles told Fox on Tuesday.
‘We will be arresting anybody that interferes or impedes in any of these enforcement actions,’ Charles said. ‘We’ve already arrested 60… that have got in our way, impeded us or assaulted an officer.’
Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have blamed the Trump administration for the unrest following Good’s death, filing a lawsuit to block the ongoing federal immigration enforcement surge.
