MINNEAPOLIS — In a neighborhood just a couple of blocks from where an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a confrontation between protesters and federal immigration enforcement broke out Monday afternoon.
Dozens of agents and officers wearing tactical gear and masks covering their faces fired pepper balls and tear gas to disperse a growing crowd of protesters chanting “shame, shame, shame” and telling agents to “get the f--- out.”
The scene showed how tensions are flaring up in a community grappling with Good's death as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vowed to deploy hundreds of additional federal officers to Minnesota this week amid nationwide outcry and protests.
“We’re sending more officers today, and tomorrow they’ll arrive. There will be hundreds more in order to allow our ICE and our Border Patrol individuals that are working in Minneapolis to do so safely,” Noem told the Fox News show "Sunday Morning Futures."
The fatal shooting has aggravated tensions in Minneapolis and around the country and intensified scrutiny of federal government operations in the state.
Outside a growing makeshift memorial that sprouted on the exact spot where Good was shot, resident Mileesha Smith said, “I believe that my neighborhood is traumatized.
"We are hurting. We are mourning,” Smith said, describing fear and confusion among residents who were worried about what comes next amid an increase in immigration enforcement.
Community group chats alerted people near East 35th Street and Park Avenue of an incident involving immigration officers, Minneapolis residents at the scene told NBC News.
Crowds of observers quickly gathered at the intersection, blowing whistles and honking horns to warn others of the presence of Border Patrol agents at the intersection.
Minneapolis resident Maggie Wood was among them. She said that 20 minutes before she saw the alert on her community group chat, two immigrants approached her as she strolled around her neighborhood and thanked observers like her for the support.
“This is Minneapolis. We are here to support each other,” Wood said.
But on Monday afternoon, what initially started as an effort to monitor enforcement activity at the intersection turned into a protest, in which demonstrators were tear-gassed and pepper balls were used to break the crowds.
"I decided to not be a monitor anymore and just to be an active protester," Jamie Schwesmedl said.
Noem was clear that the operation in the state is now focused not just on finding immigration law breaches but also on tackling anti-ICE protesters.
“We’re going to continue to if they conduct violent activities against law enforcement, if they impede our operations, that’s a crime, and we will hold them accountable to those consequences,” she said.
Separately, Noem defended her characterization of Good as a terrorist. Asked whether Good was, in fact, trying to flee, Noem said on CNN that video "showed that this officer was hit by her vehicle. She weaponized it."
Eyewitness videos show Good in her SUV on a suburban street in Minneapolis talking to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as her wife talks to officers outside the car. Video that appears to have been recorded on a cellphone belonging to Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who fatally shot Good, captures the moment he fires multiple rounds into the car just after it starts to move.
An eyewitness told NBC News last week that he was surprised to hear the shots and that he didn't think the car was going to hit anybody.
Minneapolis has become a key focus of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, driven by his dislike of local leaders, including Gov. Tim Walz; a years-old fraud scandal; and repeated derogatory comments about the local Somali population, which he has described as "garbage."
About 2,000 federal agents — more than three times the number of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department — have already deployed to the state.
Noem, Trump and other government figures have maintained that the ICE officer who shot Good was acting in self-defense and within the law.
Noem accused local leaders of corruption Sunday and said Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were not cooperating, prompting the surge in ICE officers.
Walz said in the aftermath of the shooting that people shouldn't believe the government's "propaganda machine," and Frey told NBC News on Sunday that the evidence contradicts the government's claims.
Both men have expressed doubts that the FBI investigation into the incident will have a fair outcome after local law enforcement officials were removed from the process.
Asked whether he believed deadly force was necessary, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Good was "highly disrespectful of law enforcement" and part of a group of "professional agitators."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the DHS said: "This is (the) largest DHS operation in history— we won’t get into resources or numbers of personnel."
Maggie Vespa reported from Minneapolis, Nicole Acevedo from New York and Patrick Smith from London.
