Protesters, US law enforcement clash after immigration officer kills woman

Protesters clashed with law enforcement officers in Minneapolis on Thursday after the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration agent triggered outrage fueled by the Trump administration's insistence she was guilty of "domestic terrorism."

Federal officers armed with pepperball guns and tear gas jostled with a large crowd of protesters beside a government facility in Fort Snelling just outside Minneapolis.

The noisy crowd chanted slogans attacking the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency as officers pushed against protesters, detaining several including one who struck an agent with a cardboard sign.

The victim of Wednesday's shooting, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was shot in the head as she apparently tried to drive away from agents approaching her car, which they said was blocking their way.

Footage of the incident shows a masked ICE agent attempt to open the woman's car door before another masked agent, standing near the vehicle's front bumper, fired three times into the Honda SUV.

The vehicle then hurtled out of control and smashed into stationary vehicles, as horrified onlookers hurled abuse at the federal officers.

Her bloodied body is then seen slumped in the crashed vehicle. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said she leaves behind a wife and six-year-old child, for whom a fundraiser has received more than $600,000.

President Donald Trump and senior officials quickly claimed Good was trying to kill the agents, an assertion Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called "bullshit."

"I want to see nobody get shot. I want to see nobody screaming and trying to run over policemen either," Trump said in an interview with The New York Times.

He earlier said that the shooting was self-defense.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief Kristi Noem called the incident "domestic terrorism" later saying she was "not opposed" to deploying more officers to Minneapolis "if necessary to keep people safe."

Witness Tyrice said he heard "three gunshots and then I hear a car crash."

"I see this lady hugging the victim," he said.

"There's blood all in the snow in front of our house. And I could see a lady in the car...You could see the wounds and everything, like a whole bunch of blood, the airbag out, it's a whole bunch of blood all over the airbag."

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told CNN that Good was not the target of immigration enforcement action and that she was only suspected of blocking traffic.

Vice President JD Vance described the victim on social media as "a deranged leftist."

Immigrant deportations

Protests grew after Minnesota's Democratic Governor Walz called it a "patriotic duty" to demonstrate for justice.

"But it needs to be done safely," Walz said.

On Thursday he said Minnesota must be part of the probe into the shooting alongside federal investigators -- as otherwise Noem "is judge, jury and basically executioner."

Minneapolis public schools were to be closed Thursday and Friday as a precaution against unrest.

ICE federal officers have been at the forefront of the Trump administration's immigrant deportation drive, with raids carried out over the objections of some local officials.

DHS launched a 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 protests over immigration enforcement in the southern part of Minneapolis.

They are part of widespread anger over the Trump administration's high-profile crackdown on undocumented immigrants, with the Republican vowing to arrest and deport "millions.

The victim's mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter "was probably terrified."

Good was "not part of anything like" challenging ICE officers, Ganger added.

Good was a mother and poet who studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, US media reported.

On Thursday, religious leaders addressed hundreds of people attending a vigil at the scene of the shooting, with a growing memorial of flowers and candles erected to commemorate Good's life.

US authorities said up to 2,000 officers were in Minneapolis for immigration sweeps.

An officer shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Chicago in September after authorities alleged the man tried to resist detention by driving his car into the official.