SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
U.S. federal agents have shot and killed another person in Minneapolis. It is the third such shooting and second fatality in the city this month. Local and state officials are again calling the Trump administration to pull its officers out of Minnesota. NPR's Jennifer Ludden is in Minneapolis. Jennifer, thank you for being with us.
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: What can you tell us about what's happened?
LUDDEN: Well, we know the shooting was around 9 o'clock this morning outside a doughnut shop south of downtown. The victim was a 37-year-old male. And from there, we have gotten conflicting information. The Department of Homeland Security tweeted a statement saying officers were conducting a targeted operation. They said it was against an immigrant in the U.S. illegally who was wanted for violent assault. DHS says the man approached Border Patrol agents with a semiautomatic handgun. They tried to disarm him. He resisted them, and agents fired defensive shots, fearing for their life.
Now, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara has told reporters he does not know what happened before his officers arrived on the scene. But the victim has been identified, and he said officials think it's a U.S. citizen, a white male with no criminal record and that he's a lawful gun owner with a right to carry. Now, Police Chief O'Hara also said that there was an unlawful gathering of protesters, and he urged people to clear out and stay calm. And I was there this morning. You had dozens and dozens of people who rushed to the scene, protesting ICE but not knowing exactly what had happened.
SIMON: Governor Walz has also spoken and the mayor of Minneapolis, too...
LUDDEN: Yes.
SIMON: Haven't they?
LUDDEN: Yes. Governor Tim Walz put out a statement, saying this was sickening. He said on social media - he called on the Trump administration to pull the, quote, "thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota now." You know, this comes after weeks of local residents describing, you know, what they see as really aggressive treatment on the part of these officers. We've had some American citizens detained. Refugees here lawfully have been detained. Mayor Jacob Frey spoke this morning at a press conference and said that, you know, this is a political partisan narrative, and he's just tired of residents being blamed for the tense situation here. Let's listen to Mayor Frey.
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JACOB FREY: So to everyone listening, stand with Minneapolis. Stand up for America. Recognize that your children will ask you what side you were on. Your grandchildren will ask you what you did to act to prevent this from happening again.
SIMON: Jennifer, I know you've been out at the scene of the killing. Tell us what you've seen there and how people seem to be reacting.
LUDDEN: You know, there's just a lot of anger. And let me just note that this comes one day after a huge, very peaceful, kind of joyful, in a sense - sorrowful but joyful, in a sense, protest yesterday, where I also was. Thousands of people assembled, lots of signs about - making puns on ICE and asking them to get out, demanding they get out, people saying they're worried for their neighbors, their coworkers who've been arrested, just - their city, which they feel has been targeted. And, you know, you have people hiding out, afraid to go outside. It was a very peaceful protest.
And now, this morning, after the shooting, dozens of people did come to the scene. They put up barricades. They were chanting, ICE, Get Out. And then we had local police officers really pushing them back. There were blocks and blocks blocked off with yellow tape and multiple rounds of tear gas to try and clear the scene.
You know, Rachel Sayre is the head of emergency management for the city. She also spoke about the human impact this is having - profound impact - especially on the many people who are afraid to go out. Let's give a listen to her.
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RACHEL SAYRE: Families with loved ones detained and those who are afraid to be in public, lest they become targets, need help accessing the most basic necessities, like food, housing and rides to school. Businesses are shuttering, and our local economy is severely impacted, which means families are suffering just as we were rounding a corner in our recovery.
LUDDEN: Yeah. So families are suffering. Businesses are suffering. People here are just wondering how long this is going to go on. They really want the thousands of federal agents here to move on.
SIMON: NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Minneapolis. Thanks so much.
LUDDEN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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