Furious protesters burned the American flag on the streets of Minneapolis as the city descended into chaos after a woman was shot dead by an ICE agent.
Shocking footage showed the Stars and Stripes being set aflame as hordes took to the streets on Wednesday.
The protesters shouted anti-ICE chants as they burned the flag, while others threw snowballs at and physically confronted agents.
The chaotic scenes came after 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot in the head by an ICE agent.
Tensions have reached fever pitch in the city as the Department of Homeland Security conducts its biggest operation ‘ever’ in Minneapolis after a series of fraud scandals.
Law enforcement used tear gas and pepper spray on protesters, while local police also put up metal barriers to separate them from federal agents.
Homeland Security said she was shot after she made ‘an attempt to kill’ officers.
Minneapolis officials however have disputed that version of events, with Governor Tim Walz calling it ‘propaganda.’
Earlier on Wednesday, mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to ‘get the f**k out of Minneapolis.’
A man in a tan jacket was seen waving a burning upside down American flag in front of a large group of protesters on Wednesday, just hours after a 37-year-old woman was shot dead by ICE
Protesters also threw snowballs at federal agents as tensions between the government and the Democratic city have heightened
Law enforcement used tear gas and pepper spray on protesters. One man was seen squeezing his eyes shut after being hit with a chemical spray in Minneapolis
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the ICE agent shot the woman because he was ‘fearing for his own life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement, and the safety of the public.’
‘He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers,’ she said in a statement, describing the gunshots as ‘defensive shots.’
‘Thankfully, the ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries.’
The woman’s burgundy SUV was seen with a bullet hole through the driver’s side windshield. After being shot, the woman crashed into a pole and damaged two parked cars.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a press conference that officers had been stuck in the snow due to severe weather in the city.
‘They were attempting to push out their vehicle when a woman attacked them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle,’ she said.
‘An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him.’
However, local police chief Brian O’Hara said the woman was in her vehicle and blocking the road. Then federal law enforcement approached her and the vehicle began to drive off.
Two shots were fired before the vehicle crashed, O’Hara said.
Renee Nicole Good, pictured, has been named as the woman shot dead by ICE in Minneapolis on Wednesday
Governor Walz asked citizens to ‘remain calm’ as he slammed the DHS’s version of events as ‘propaganda’
The woman shot dead was named by her mom Donna Ganger as Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old poet.
‘She was probably terrified,’ Ganger told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Ganger added that she was ‘not part of anything like that,’ referring to protests against ICE that were taking place at the location where Good was killed.
Good was a poet and mother of three children who grew up in Colorado Springs. She was married to a comedian named Timothy Macklin who died in 2023 and now lives in Minneapolis with her partner, whose name has not been shared.
Video shared online captured a woman speaking to a distressed onlooker who claimed to be Good’s wife, while adding that she had a six-year-old child.
‘That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do,’ the onlooker wailed hysterically.
The man filming the video asked if the screaming woman was with the woman who was killed, and if she had any friends who could help.
‘That’s my wife… [unintelligible]… I have a six-year-old at school… we’re new here we don’t have anyone,’ came the reply.
The frantic onlooker could also be heard to scream: ‘We need a doctor.’
Witnesses told FOX 9 a woman got into a red vehicle in the area of Portland Avenue and East 34th Street Wednesday morning.
There was one ICE agent on either side of the vehicle trying to get in, and a third ICE agent came and tried to yank on the driver’s side door.
One of the agents on the driver’s side door backed away a little bit, and then opened fire, shooting three times through the driver’s side window. One witness said the vehicle wasn’t moving toward the agents.
Meanwhile, witnesses say a doctor was at the scene and tried to help the woman who had been shot but the ICE agents refused to let the doctor in to help.
Ten to 15 minutes later, an ambulance arrived but was blocked by ICE vehicles that had occupied the street.
Witnesses said ICE agents then carried a “limp body” to the end of the street, and then the person was loaded into the ambulance.
Governor Walz asked citizens to ‘remain calm’ as he slammed the DHS’s version of events as ‘propaganda.’
‘The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice,’ he wrote on X.
‘Don’t believe this propaganda machine.’
Walz threatened to deploy the National Guard and told the troops to prepared for deployment to Minneapolis, he said at a press conference on Wednesday.
‘We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary,’ he said.
‘They are teachers in your community, they’re business owners, they’re construction professionals, they are Minnesotans.
‘Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight. We will not take the bait.’
The White House, however, stands by its agency, calling the ICE agents ‘brave men and women’ who ‘risk everything to keep our communities safe.’
The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that burning the American flag is legal as it is considered a form of symbolic speech.
