Jan. 14 (UPI) -- An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded an immigrant in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening, prompting officials to reiterate their demand that federal immigration law enforcement leave the city.
Thousands of heavily armed and masked ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents have been deployed to the city for Operation Metro Surge, which began in December, to conduct neighborhood sweeps and make arrests of immigrants with criminal convictions -- attracting staunch protest from residents.
Tensions between the resident of Minneapolis and federal immigration law enforcement have been ratcheted high after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good earlier this month.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the Wednesday evening shooting followed federal law enforcement officers pulling over a Venezuelan immigrant who was allegedly in the country illegally at about 6:50 p.m. CT.
The immigrant allegedly fled arrest, crashing his vehicle into a parked car before taking off on foot.
Once the agent caught up with the suspect, he "began to resist and violently assault the officer," the Department of Homeland Security said. Two people then allegedly came to the suspect's aid, allegedly attacking the agent with a snow shovel and broom handle.
"Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life," according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The initial suspect was struck in the leg, the department said.
Both the agent and the wounded suspect are hospitalized, DHS said, adding that the two other people involved in the incident have been detained.
Protests have erupted following the shooting. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters during a press conference that the demonstrators were "engaging in unlawful acts," including throwing fireworks, rocks and ice at police officers.
"Police are attempting to disperse this unlawful assembly at this time," he said. "This is already a very tense situation and we do not need this to escalate any further."
He confirmed the shooting, saying a preliminary investigation shows the round was fired during a struggle with a federal agent.
After the shot was fired, the suspect sought refuge in a nearby residence where he refused to leave. Federal agents were able to make entry into the residence and apprehend the suspect, who has been transferred to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.
He said he has received information that at least one person may have assaulted the federal officer, though he is unsure if that was the person who was ultimately apprehended and that a broom and snow shovel were found at the scene.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey lambasted ICE and Customs Enforcement agents, of which he said there were some 3,000 deployed to the city, "creating chaos."
"This is not creating safety. It's certainly not creating safety when a huge percentage of the shootings that have taken place so far this year in Minneapolis have been by ICE," Frey said during the press conference with O'Hara.
"So, let's be very clear. I've seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable."
The city has filed litigation to have the courts force the Trump administration to remove the immigration agents, but Frey said he is worried that time is not on their side, as this is the second shooting in a week, with the first killing Good, a 37-year-old mother of three.
Minneapolis said in a statement on X it "demands that ICE leave the city and state immediately."
Frey has repeatedly called on members of the public to protest peacefully and to not "take the bait" allegedly laid by the Trump administration to escalate violence.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, in a recorded statement Wednesday night said the deployment of federal immigration officers stopped long ago about being about immigration enforcement and is now "a campaign of organized brutality" against the Minnesotan people by their own federal government.
"End this occupation," he said to Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. "You've done enough."
To the people of Minnesota, he said Trump wants chaos and violence, but they must deprive him of it.
"We cannot and will not let violence prevail," he said.