Overnight: 3rd DHS-Involved Shooting in a Week - Officer Shoots Suspect After Being Ambushed by Men With Pole Weapons
A third shooting by a Department of Homeland Security officer in a week — and the second in Minneapolis — has sparked renewed unrest in the city and elsewhere.
According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the individual who was shot was a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was the subject of a targeted traffic stop in Minneapolis shortly before 7 p.m. Central Time.
The man, who was not named by DHS and has not been identified by the media as of 1:30 a.m. Central, “was released into the country by Joe Biden in 2022,” the statement read.
NBC News reported that, after the stop, the man left his moving vehicle, which then crashed into a parked car.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent pursued the suspect and caught up with him; the Venezuelan man then used a pole-like weapon to assault the agent.
“While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle,” the statement read.
“As the officer was being ambushed and attacked by the two individuals, the original subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick.
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life. The initial subject was hit in the leg,” the statement continued. “All three subjects ran back into the apartment and barricaded themselves inside.”
At 6:50 PM CT, federal law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop in Minneapolis of an illegal alien from Venezuela who was released into the country by Joe Biden in 2022.
In an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed…
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 15, 2026
NBC News reported both the suspect and officer were hospitalized. The outlet also said that a live video posted to Facebook showed the man’s family on the phone with police asking for assistance after he was shot.
“The person filming the video at various points opens the curtains of a window. Red and blue flashing lights from a vehicle can been seen outside,” the outlet reported.
The incident occurred one week after Renee Good, an anti-ICE activist who was disrupting law enforcement operations, was shot and killed after she ran her SUV into an ICE agent who was in front of her car. Good had been told to stop the vehicle and get out before the incident, but video shows she put the car in reverse and then accelerated forward into the agent, who reportedly sustained internal injuries.
In addition, two Venezuelan nationals allegedly connected with the Tren de Aragua gang were shot and wounded by a Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, after a targeted traffic stop. The two were hospitalized with nonfatal injuries.
While officials said the duo similarly weaponized their vehicle in the manner that Good did, officials weren’t wearing body cameras and no video had surfaced as of Monday, CBS News reported.
It was unclear whether the suspect in the latest Minneapolis shooting was also affiliated with the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang, which has been labeled a terror organization by the United States.
Amid unrest, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged calm while criticizing ICE for carrying out operations in the city.
“I’ve seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable. If it were your city, it would be unacceptable there, too,” Frey said in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“And for anyone that is taking the bait tonight: Stop. That is not helpful. Go home. We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos.”
The DHS, meanwhile, put part of the blame on Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in its statement about the shooting.
“This attack on another brave member of law enforcement took place while Minnesota’s top leaders, Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, are actively encouraging an organized resistance to ICE and federal law enforcement officers,” it read.
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