Minneapolis protest erupts after DHS reports ICE shooting (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: We are following the breaking news out of Minneapolis tonight, another shooting involving federal officers. DHS says it was in self-defense during a targeted stop of an undocumented immigrant. CNN's Whitney Wilde is on the scene right now, where there have been some explosions, it seems. There are crowds gathering. Whitney, can you tell us what's happening where you are? I think we're having trouble with Whitney's connection. We're going to try to reconnect with her. This is an active situation that's unfolding on the ground in Minneapolis. And like the scenes of ICE operations across the city over the last couple of days, it gets chaotic, and it gets chaotic very, very fast. Look, we don't know all the details. We were saying in the previous segment, as we're coming back to the table while we wait for Whitney, the DHS says that this was a targeted enforcement operation and that the ICE officer was attacked. And I do think that that is exactly the type of situation that we want as few of those situations as possible to transpire. And yet it seems like all the time there are all kinds of interactions happening where ICE officers are put in danger. And I'm not sure if it's all just because of, you know, violent people attacking them. Sometimes it's also the tactics that I think are putting them at risk, the vehicle stops, which there have been some reporting about how these vehicle stops are so dangerous, and more and more of them are happening.

[00:01:42] Speaker 2: Tim Walls and Jacob Fry should make an offer to DHS. They should offer to repeal their ordinances of separation and their sanctuary policies that prohibit local police and state troopers and state prosecutors from helping ICE in exchange for a prioritization that ICE is going to only go after people who have felony problems or who have violent criminal pasts, who have other serious charges pending or have in their past. They ought to make them that offer. That's the way if you want to make this work a lot better in the community, then the Democratic community leaders should offer to help. They should make this a collaborative effort.

[00:02:19] Speaker 1: I think they would take that deal. But I'm not sure the administration would take that deal.

[00:02:23] Speaker 3: So are you admitting then that ICE is not handling this appropriately?

[00:02:25] Speaker 2: I've just said I think they need to be learning. They need to be learning from their tactics, from mistakes as we go along.

[00:02:30] Speaker 3: Okay, but learning on the job does not mean shooting a woman point blank three times in the face and then calling her an effing bee, which I can't say on TV, and having her bleed out with teddy bears in the car. How does that build trust? How does that make any of us safer? And how does that build the goodwill to do what Donald Trump would like to say that ICE should do?

[00:02:48] Speaker 1: I'm going to leave you, but I'm going to go back or try to go back to Whitney Wild, who's on the ground now. Whitney, can you hear me? Whitney, what's happening around you?

[00:02:58] Speaker 4: Okay, we are near 23rd and Lindale. It's not an exact location, but we're a couple of blocks away. Sorry, it's a little hard to breathe because they just let off several flash bangs, multiple tear gas canisters that were coming off all around us. And at one point it became so foggy that my producer, Meredith Edwards, and I got separated from our photographer, Jonathan Shearer. Things have calmed down a little bit now. But you'll see... Can you walk with me, John? Are you okay to walk or no? You want to stay here? Okay. You can't see, just over my side here, there's still multiple federal agents and a growing crowd, very angry here, following them all around the neighborhood from what we've seen. This is all because, what we know, according to the Department of Homeland Security, around 6.50 central time, law enforcement was conducting an operation where they say that they were going after a specific target. And when they tried to approach that target, he ran, he jumped into a car, he fled in a vehicle and then crashed. Again, this is according to the Department of Homeland Security. Again, they're saying that in an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and then crashed. And once law enforcement was able to catch up with that subject, they attempted to arrest that subject. He was fighting back while that officer and the subject were on the ground, apparently fighting, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Other people began attacking law enforcement. That's when the subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or a broomstick. And that's when DHS says that the officer fired what they are calling defensive shots. They're now saying that that officer and the subject are in the hospital. The other two people who were engaged in this attack are in custody. But this is a city that is already on edge. And what you're seeing right now is a major reaction. Again, it's hard to see. And we'll try to get a little bit closer here in a minute, Abby. But there is a growing crowd here that is increasingly angry, that is following ICE, what we believe are ICE officers or other immigration agents throughout this neighborhood, screaming at them, telling them to leave in the strongest possible terms they can muster Meanwhile, ICE trying to push back this crowd was letting off tear gas canisters over and over and over. And at one point, Abby, they were going off all around us and actually it became so chaotic that one bounced off my foot and bounced off my side. And that's when we got separated because the smoke was everywhere and we were having trouble reconnecting. But now we're we're back. Our fearless photographer, Jonathan Shearer, was right in the center of it, catching everything. If you guys are rolling on it, maybe we can run that video later. But that is the scene here, Abby. And it's it's not again, it's going more so.

[00:05:42] Speaker 1: And Whitney, as we're talking, if you if you need to move or relocate, please do stay safe while you are out there. But I want to ask you, because six fifty is the time that, according to the Department of Homeland Security, this incident occurred. It's been now several hours. Is your sense that the reason that there are still ICE officers or federal agents on the scene is because there's they're they're doing something, they're doing active enforcement or maybe they're investigating the shooting. And the folks I'm hearing chanting are people chanting. Are they blowing whistles? What are they doing on the ground?

[00:06:22] Speaker 4: They're chanting, they're blowing whistles, they're screaming at them to go home. You're seeing you're going to hear more flashbangs in a second, I think. It sounded like one just a moment ago. We're surrounding these immigration officers and letting them know without any ambiguity that they do not like what they see and they want them to leave. This has been an ongoing scene throughout the city of Minneapolis. After the shooting of Renee Nicole Good, the city has has been quite angry. We've seen multiple protests, not just in Minneapolis, but all around the country. Certainly now this is giving new reason for people to protest. Sorry, I'm just watching. We're here. It sounds it's louder than it looks. I'm trying to figure out, Abby, sorry, I keep looking away. So is it? I mean, what can you estimate? There are things.

[00:07:08] Speaker 1: Do you have a sense of the size of the crowd and are more people coming to the scene because it's now known that there was an incident there?

[00:07:16] Speaker 4: I can't. It's so dark, Abby, that I can't tell what the size of the crowd is. Do you are you OK to walk? Jonathan, do you want to add me? We can walk and show you. Hold on. I can't know what the size of the crowd is. But there's other law enforcement here. It looks like I can't see who they are. It's so dark. They're in darker uniform. So it could be local law enforcement, Abby. I'm just not sure. But when we were on our way, we saw at almost a dozen law enforcement vehicles screaming over to this location. So we're still trying to get a handle on what the roles of law enforcement are and what the federal agents who are still on the ground might be doing. Are they continuing to do immigration enforcement? We can't know in this moment. All we know is what we see. And we see that they're starting to cordon off this area over here. But I think this scene, Abby, could be between 50 and 100 people. It's so dark. I can't really tell. But we can. Are you guys OK to walk? Sorry, Abby, it's tough. And the conditions here are difficult because it's so icy.

[00:08:23] Speaker 1: It's icy and cold. Can you tell us, though, Whitney, it is dark for us to see even what you're seeing. What kind of neighborhood are we even talking about here?

[00:08:35] Speaker 4: Abby, this, you know, this neighborhood is not far from downtown. It's 10 minutes away. You know, we're again, we're at 23rd and Lindale. What we have seen is multiple people driving out to ask us what we know. So when you know, to go back to what you're asking about, whether or not people are at the crowd is growing. I think it is growing. And I think people are curious, you know, at a minimum to know what's going on, asking us and those around them what happened and for details. They're also here to make their voices heard in the loudest way that they can at this moment, Abby.

[00:09:10] Speaker 1: All right, Whitney Wild, as you're walking around here, I'm seeing some folks in that there's a man walking in front of you with, you know, a illuminated vest. Is that law enforcement? Is that a protester? Do you have any sense of of who he is and what he's doing?

[00:09:31] Speaker 4: I can't tell. It looks like he has a helmet and maybe a camera, so he could be, you know, a member of the press as well. But we've certainly seen multiple people here who appear to be, I guess I would call them civilian medics. What we see a lot of times at protests like this is people who are prepared for flash bangs to go off, tear gas to go off and identify themselves as a type of person who can help you. So right now you're seeing, I'm going to try to come in front here. Still multiple federal agents here, I'd say at least two dozen side by side here behind this police line. This now we are at 23rd and we're still at 23rd and Lindale, right, Meredith? Sorry, we've been walking around the neighborhood, so we're on 23rd now. This is where we believe this happened, but we're still, you know, continuing to gather details. The most detail we have is from the Department of Homeland Security. They're certainly their side of the narrative. We have reached out to other officials. We reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department to try to gather more information about what they know. But, Abby, this is this is the scene here. It shows no signs of slowing down at all.

[00:10:44] Speaker 1: Whitney, I do want to say again, please stay safe. Please do what you need to do in that moment if you need to step away or go somewhere else in order to stay out of the fray here.