Chilling video of an ICE agent fatally shooting an American woman in Minneapolis has debunked much of the agency’s explanation of what occurred Wednesday morning.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claims that a woman in an SUV attempted to “ram” multiple agents. However, videos show that only the officer who opened fire was near the front of the vehicle, and he stepped to the side as he pulled the trigger.
Noem, 54, further claimed that the unnamed woman “attacked” agents—plural—as they tried to push a stuck vehicle out of the snow. There is no video evidence of this.
Instead, a four-and-a-half-minute clip circling on social media shows that the slain woman was partially blocking a residential street in her red Honda SUV when two ICE agents arrived in a pickup truck, ordered her out of the vehicle, and tried to open her driver’s side door. Her car was not facing any officers removing their own vehicle from the snow.
As an agent attempted to open her door, the vehicle began rolling forward, and its tires turned to the right, away from the officers. The agent standing in front of the vehicle, who remains unnamed, appears to have moved out of the vehicle’s way as it accelerated forward and fired three shots—one through the windshield and two through the driver’s side window.
Moments later, the SUV crashes into a vehicle parked on the street as bystanders scream, “What the f–k.” The slain woman, 37, has not been identified, nor has the officer who shot her. Photos from the scene showed children’s toys inside her vehicle, including a plush animal.
The encounter took place about a mile from where George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.
President Donald Trump took things a step further than Noem and DHS, bizarrely claiming that the woman involved had “viciously ran over” an ICE agent. The video shows that clearly did not happen.
“It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital,” Trump wrote. He also baselessly claimed that a horrified bystander—clearly screaming in fear and anger—was actually a “professional agitator.”
The agent who opened fire took off running toward the woman after her vehicle crashed. He showed no signs of an injury in a clip taken by a bystander who got within feet of him.
Many, including Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have pointed out that the secretary’s explanation—and an official DHS statement echoing her claims—are simply not supported by the video.
Walz called DHS a “propaganda machine” and urged the public not to trust its account. He promised a thorough investigation and justice.
“The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice,” he said.
Journalists called out the discrepancies, too.
Sam Stein, who is managing editor of The Bulwark and a MS Now contributor, said Noem’s claims of what occurred were “surreal.”
“There is video of this incident!” he posted on X, resharing a clip from Noem’s news conference in Texas. “It’s nothing like this.”
In a follow-up post, he broke down his issues with the government’s defense of the ICE agent.
“Even if you grant that the driver here was going right at the ICE officer, there are clear problems with these statements,” he said.
Stein continued, “1. The officer was out of the way by the time the driver passed, hence why he shot the SIDE window. 2. Noem claimed the woman was attacking ‘them’ (multiple). That’s not true, per video. 3. Noem said the driver was attempting to run ‘them’ over (multiple) 4. Noem says the officers had gotten stuck in the snow (they hadn’t, at least per video).”
DHS said that officers were injured in the incident but are “expected to make full recoveries.”
As Stein and others noted, there was nothing in the videos that suggested a single ICE agent, let alone multiple, was injured by the slain woman’s vehicle.
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