Jacob Frey, the mayor, called the government’s stance “bullshit” and called on ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers conducting a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.
A video of the incident, which has not been verified by AFP, shows a Honda SUV apparently blocking unmarked law enforcement vehicles as they attempt to drive down a snow-covered street.
The driver, who the mayor said was a 37-year-old woman, attempted to drive off as officers walked over and tried to open the door, with one agent firing three times with a handgun as the vehicle pulled away.
Trump, who has ordered nationwide anti-immigrant raids, accused the victim of “viciously” trying to run over the agent.
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” he said on Truth Social, adding the agent “seems to have shot her in self-defense.”
ICE’s federal agents have been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation drive, despite the objections of local officials.
The department of homeland security launched an aggressive recruitment campaign last summer to add 10,000 additional ICE agents to the existing 6,000-strong contingent.
That sparked criticism that new officers in the field were insufficiently trained.
Wednesday’s incident came during protest action against immigration enforcement in the south of the city in the midwestern state of Minnesota.
“Attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them – an act of domestic terrorism,” the department of homeland security, which runs ICE, said on X.
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.
“The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased. The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries.”
Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz called the federal government’s response to the incident “propaganda” and vowed his state would “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation.”
Large crowds chanting anti-ICE slogans formed near the scene of the shooting.
Witness Brandon Hewitt told news broadcast channel MS NOW that he heard “three shots”.
“I got a bunch of video of them carrying the body to the ambulance,” he told the broadcaster.
“I’m pretty right-leaning – but seeing this, this is not what you need to do.”
Another witness interviewed by local FOX9 described a grisly scene.
“The surviving passenger got out of the car covered in blood,” the witness said.
He recounted seeing a man who identified himself as a doctor attempting to reach the scene but being refused access by officers.
Anti-ICE protests
There have been passionate protests against immigration operations of the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are “millions” of undocumented migrants.
The DHS called the violence a “direct consequence of constant attacks and demonisation of our officers.”
Near the scene of the shooting, ICE officers pepper-sprayed and shoved protesters, in footage broadcast by local CBS affiliate WCCO.
Dozens of protesters and bystanders were at the scene after the incident.
“There’s no way, whatever this person did, that they deserved to be killed for it,” one bystander told the broadcaster.
Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term and has tightened conditions for entering the US and obtaining visas.
During his campaign, Trump likened undocumented migrants to “animals”, frequently linking them, without evidence, to criminal behaviour.
ICE – which critics accuse of transforming into a paramilitary force under Trump – has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.
Trump’s White House called Minneapolis mayor Frey a “scumbag” for comments after the shooting in which he accused ICE of “causing chaos and distrust”.
US authorities said that as many as 2,000 officers had been deployed to Minneapolis and surrounding areas to conduct immigration sweeps, partly in response to claims of fraud against some Somali residents.