Mayor Jacob Frey (00:00):
… do everything possible to get to the bottom of this, to get justice, and to make sure that there is an investigation that is conducted in full. But what we do know is that a 37-year-old woman is dead and that she was shot by ICE. We've dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ICE presence in Minneapolis. Not only is this a concern that we've had internally, we've been talking about it. They are not here to cause safety in this city. What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust. They're ripping families apart. They're sowing chaos on our streets. And in this case, quite literally killing people. So they are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly. That is bullshit. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.
(01:28)
As soon as it happened and we learned of the incident, we had several priorities. The first, of course, was to get the victim to the hospital and to get care as soon as possible. To the family, I'm so deeply sorry. There's nothing that I can say right now that's going to make you or your relatives or the friends of the victim feel any better. There were, I believe, two Minneapolis police officers that responded and were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. The second was to get ICE off of the scene. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of ICE and federal officers that were there at the time. Having them there was only causing more chaos. Having them there was only making a difficult situation even more problematic and one that yes, they created themselves.
(02:32)
There's little I can say again that'll make this situation better, but I do have a message for our community, for our city, and I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy are being terrorized, and now somebody is dead. That's on you. And it's also on you to leave. It's on you to make sure that further damage, further loss of life, and injury is not done. We're going to be working towards justice as quickly as we possibly can right now, and justice is what we've all got to get.
(03:40)
Next the message to our community. Look, we all know that the agenda of this Trump administration is to create chaos. Let us respond right now with our best versions of self. This is a moment where all of us in Minneapolis and beyond, we can rise to the occasion. We can show them who we are. We can show them the kind of courage, bravery, love, and compassion that makes Minneapolis Minneapolis, and it makes America America. We are better than a bunch of ICE agents being deployed to cities around the country and ripping apart families and communities. We're better than that. And so we are going to meet that hate with love. We are going to meet that despair with hope. We are going to meet that injustice with constitutional justice ourselves. And we're going to make sure that in this very difficult moment, we do not take the bait that these ICE agents are trying to create and that the federal government, to be clear, wants.
(04:59)
They want us to respond in a way that creates a military occupation in our city. They want an excuse to come in and show the kind of force that will create more chaos and more despair. Let's not let them. Let's rise to this occasion. Let's show them something far more beautiful than the kind of division that they're trying to stoke. Let's show them unity of purpose, of love, and the courage of our conviction. Our conviction, to be clear, is rock solid, and it is for our neighbors, all of our neighbors. It's for people who have lived here for 80 years. It is for new immigrants who have made this city a better place. That's the kind of love that we're going to show up with right now. If you're angry, I get it. I am too.
(05:58)
If you're feeling that kind of despair, it's understandable. Let's show them who we can be. Let's show up with peace. To march, to protest, to hug one another, to love all the way with peace. Do not give them what they want. Finally, we've got a lot of work that needs to happen right now to make sure that first, of course, the scene was secured as much as possible, that we were able to get the victim now deceased to the hospital. We've got a lot of work to do in the coming days. I want to thank our city enterprise for the work that they have done, but more importantly, what they're about to do, because this is going to be heavy and our city has been through a lot. We also know that we're prepared to do right for people. Among them is our chief of police. And I'll invite them up.
Brian O'Hara (07:10):
My name is Brian O'Hara, B-R-I-A-N O apostrophe H-A-R-A. I am the Minneapolis Police Chief. This morning, Minneapolis police officers received a report of federal law enforcement being involved in a deadly force incident, meaning shots had been fired. Minneapolis police officers responded to the scene. We arrived and found a woman with a gunshot wound to the head. Life-saving measures were performed at the scene, including CPR. The woman was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center where she has since been pronounced deceased. The preliminary information that we have indicates that this woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue, midway between 33rd Street and 34th Street in the city.
(08:02)
At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive off. At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway. Minneapolis police officers secured the crime scene and assisted in trying to preserve the evidence that is there. We have since turned over the scene both to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which will be conducting an investigation into this use of deadly force. I want to thank the mayor, city council president, other members of the city council, state legislators that were on the scene. This has been a very difficult time for everyone in the city, and this is obviously a very, very tragic situation where a woman has lost her life.
(09:02)
That being said, in addition to this tragedy, which unfortunately we did predict, we were seriously concerned about further escalation from the scene. And I want to thank the elected officials that came themselves to help us prevent that from happening, as well as the individuals on that scene that remained peaceful and that abided by law enforcement instructions so that we could preserve that scene and ensure that a full and transparent investigation can take place. That being said, I just echo the mayor's comments that we ask that the community continue to call for peace. We understand people are going to be upset about what happened and people are going to want to exercise their First Amendment rights, but please do so safely and lawfully to ensure that we do not have any further tragedy in this city or destruction. Thank you.
Mayor Jacob Frey (10:01):
Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Sheriff. Thank you, council members. Commissioner, I'll open it to questions.
Scott Wasserman (10:11):
Any idea on the identity of the ICE officer who fired those shots at this point?
Mayor Jacob Frey (10:15):
I don't have that information, no. The question was, is there an identity of the ICE officer that fired? I do not have that.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Sorry, we're hearing the ICE officer stopped of a position from us helping the lady who was shot. Is that true? We've seen videos all over social media that someone tried to help this lady and they were pointed guns at and told to get away. Do you know about that at all?
Mayor Jacob Frey (10:37):
So the question was, there's information out there that people tried to help the woman that was shot and ICE officers than pointed guns at them and told them to leave. I do not have that information. I myself saw a video of the shots being fired as the car was driving away. What I can tell you is the narrative that this was just done in self-defense is a garbage narrative. That is not true. It has no truth. And it needs to be stated very clearly since we have already seen a video of it. I do not know as to what you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
So Mayor, she wasn't driving a car toward him using her vehicle as a weapon?
Mayor Jacob Frey (11:25):
It does not appear to be the case at all.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
What's the city's protocol when an observer or an activist calls 911, they say an agent's following them or an agent's pointing a gun at them. How does the city of Minneapolis handle that situation going forward considering what just happened today?
Mayor Jacob Frey (11:42):
Repeat it one more time. I missed the first part of what you said and I'll turn it over to the Chief.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
What does the city do when someone calls 911 and a federal agent's pointing a gun at them, that sort of thing?
Mayor Jacob Frey (11:54):
I'll turn it over to the chief. The question is, what does someone do when a federal agent is pointing a gun at them, Chief?
Brian O'Hara (12:01):
So if I heard you correctly, the question is about when people call 911, what is the city's protocol in these situations? We've had a very dramatic increase in 911 calls related to this activity. We have a protocol in place that has been evolving as the situation has been changing. And at this time, there is a designated supervisor that is on duty 24/7 that fields those calls. And we do everything that we can to ensure that they are appropriately prioritized with the priority being placed upon the protection of life and safety of everyone in the community.
Scott Wasserman (12:45):
Can you tell us any more about the woman who was fatally shot? Was she there as a legal observer, protestor, bystander? What do you know that you can share?
Brian O'Hara (12:55):
So the question was, what can I share about the deceased? There is nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity. This woman was in her car and it appears then blocking the street because of the presence of federal law enforcement, which is obviously something that has been happening, not just in Minneapolis, but around the country. She appears to be a middle-aged white woman.
Speaker 7 (13:29):
Chief, just about a month ago, you said these unplanned and questionable tactics by federal agents would result in someone being killed at a press conference right here. Do you consider today's tactics in line with that or do you just have a generic response to the fact that somebody is now dead?
Brian O'Hara (13:49):
The question is that I had previously made several statements about being concerned about the tactics being employed. I am obviously very concerned that I have been told that a woman who was sitting in her car blocking the street and not the target of any enforcement activity is now deceased. However, to be clear, I do not know the exact circumstances of the shooting, but I would tell you in any professional law enforcement agency in the country, I think they would tell you it's obviously very concerning whenever there's a shooting into a vehicle of someone who's not armed, but it also is something that is possible. At times, it is justified, but it is very concerning and it's something that most law enforcement agencies in the country train very intensely to try and minimize the risk that law enforcement officers get placed into a situation that the need for deadly force would be necessary.
Speaker 8 (15:01):
Has there been any indication of that need in this case?
Brian O'Hara (15:05):
I didn't hear the question.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
Has there been any indication of the need to shoot into the vehicle in this case?
Brian O'Hara (15:10):
The question was any indication about the need? I guess getting back to the justification of this, I have not seen any information other than what I have communicated.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Was she alone in the car or where there children in the car with her?
Brian O'Hara (15:21):
The question was if she was alone in the car. I know that I got there shortly after this call came in. I did not see anyone else with her while I was on the scene. However, I've since been told by our officers that have been with her the entire time that a spouse has arrived at the hospital.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Mayor, just curious if you're thinking about contacting town authorities to register your concerns about this, I mean, personally making phone calls, et cetera?
Mayor Jacob Frey (15:52):
Yes. We've been on the phone all morning. As soon as we learned about this, again, there were a series of priorities that we needed to go through. The first, of course, is to keep people safe and to help the victim in any way that we could. The second was to get ICE off of the scene. There was the notion that ICE agents would be necessary to create a perimeter around the scene itself. They themselves were creating the kind of dysfunction and chaos that they claimed to be trying to help with. And so the message that we delivered very clearly was to make them leave.
(16:33)
Now, beyond leaving the scene, they should also leave our city and our state. We do work. Our chief does work, our sheriff does work every single day to keep people safe in our city and in our state. And crime is dramatically down. Crime is down. It continues to trend down. They are doing the hard work of investigating, of arresting perpetrators of violent crime. What this federal administration is doing right now is not about creating safety. Do not let them tell you that what they are doing is about creating safety. It is not. It is having the opposite impact. We need to be clear-eyed about the work that is moving forward, and they need to leave Minneapolis.
Scott Wasserman (17:23):
We have time for one or two more questions.
Speaker 10 (17:24):
Mayor, you may know this with your legal background. If the shooting is found to not be justified, does the city have any legal, or does state rather have any legal recourse to bring charges against this ICE agent, given that this person is a federal agent if the Feds don't?
Mayor Jacob Frey (17:42):
Obviously, and I have to always lead with this caveat because it is true, an investigation still does need to be conducted. I had my perception of what took place based on the vehicle and the vehicle's positioning. It does not appear that the individual's trying to ram anybody. Now, the question was, if it is in fact found to be an unjustified shooting, who issues the charge? Who prosecutes? How does justice take place? I don't know the answer in full to that. This is obviously information that we're still working out. Chief, do you have any additional information or commissioner?
Brian O'Hara (18:18):
The only thing I would add to the mayor's statement is that the crime scene was held by the Minneapolis Police Department and the investigation is now being led jointly by the Federal Bureau Investigation as well as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. And the purpose of their involvement would be to investigate whether any state laws within the state of Minnesota have been violated.
Speaker 8 (18:41):
One more question.
Speaker 11 (18:42):
Can I just add something to that too? What's very important is that for our communities that we do have some kind of part in this investigation. It needs to be done on a local level. With all due respect to the federal level, we do need to make sure that our local agencies are involved. Most certainly the BCA is very well capable of working with our federal partners in doing so. That is something that is needed for our communities. And so that's something that I can tell you that there's already been conversations from the US Attorney's Office to the BCA that have already taken place today. How that's going to roll out, we don't know yet, but we are making sure that there is some kind of local entity, namely the BCA, that has a part in this investigation for the purposes of transparency and expedient transparency as to what happened today.
Scott Wasserman (19:28):
One more. That's it. Thank you everybody.
Mayor Jacob Frey (19:34):
Yeah. Again, thank you. Thank you everybody for coming. Thank you to the media for being here and disseminating this very important information around this tragic incident. To reiterate a final message to our community members, I understand the anger. Let's unite around hope and love and peace and getting justice. That's what we need to be doing right now. I appreciate the service from everybody up here as well as the 435,000 people that call Minneapolis home. Thank you.
Scott Wasserman (20:06):
Got some housekeeping for you in just a moment after every leaves. Okay. First of all, I'm Scott Wasserman. I'm the communications director at the city. All media questions should go to communications@minneapolismn, like Minnesota, communications@minneapolismn.gov. There was a question earlier about what happens when you call 911. We have some information on our website, Minneapolis-