Inside chaotic Minneapolis protests a day after woman was shot and killed by ICE officer

Federal officers fired pepper balls and surged into a crowd of protesters Thursday morning outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, as tensions boiled over following the fatal shooting of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer a day earlier.

CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman was reporting from the scene when officers pushed into the crowd behind a cloud of chemical irritants, triggering shoving, panic and screams among the protesters.

It was the city’s first protest of the day after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed in her car Wednesday during an ICE operation in a south Minneapolis neighborhood. The killing has sparked protests nationwide, including in New York, Miami and Detroit. 

In Minneapolis, the anger was palpable.

Several hundred people gathered outside the federal building, including mothers and grandmothers. One woman, Trish, told CBS News the fear was already disrupting daily life amid an influx of 2,000 federal law enforcement members in the Twin Cities metro area. 

“Everybody is staying home, because this is a big community with lots of different families and people can’t go to work, kids can’t go to school because they are terrorizing people,” Trish said.

Among the crowd were first-time protesters, including Patrick, who said he supports the military but felt compelled to speak out. 

“Absolutely, I am ashamed of ICE,” Patrick told CBS News, adding, “I would say that it has been building — I think the rhetoric with the governor and the president and Kristi Noem — it has just been building, for sure. I would say it has tipped over.”

Trish and Patrick did not provide their last name.

Across the street, Border Patrol officers assembled as tensions mounted. Moments later, they fired pepper balls at close range at protesters and journalists.

The chaos intensified after someone threw a snowball. Officers surged forward to detain a person, deploying what appeared to be stun grenades. At one point, Border Patrol agents found themselves surrounded before breaking through the crowd and retreating to the building.

Protesters at times refused orders to disperse, sitting in the roadway. At least one woman was dragged along the pavement as officers appeared to prepare additional crowd-control devices.

Later in the day, Patrick reflected on the moment officers charged into demonstrators.

“I really hope that both sides of us can be peaceful and not resort to this intimidation stuff,” he said. “As an American, I have a right to protest.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.