**ICE agents used tear gas to keep protesters at bay on Lyndale Avenue, near 24th Avenue North.** Photo by David Pierini

By Melody Hoffmann, David Pierini and Azhae’la Hanson, North News

A Venezuelan immigrant was shot in the leg by an ICE agent on Jan. 14 after a car crash and foot chase shortly before 7 p.m. on the 600 block of 24th Avenue North, where the man lived.

Social media posts erroneously reported that a pregnant woman was killed by ICE, fomenting tensions in a city already on edge, officials said. During the growing unrest, ICE established a perimeter that antagonized onlookers. Some protestors got brazenly close to ICE agents, yelling and recording them with their phones.

Eventually, some protesters threw snowballs, bottles, and other items, and agents returned fire with pepper balls, percussion grenades, and tear gas. It was several hours before ICE left the area

**Agents take step back as protestors shout a stream of invective at 25th and Lyndale.** Photo by David Pierini

in a haze of chemicals in a part of the city that has the highest rates of asthma and respiratory death in the state.

Community safety teams, elected officials, and even a chaplain singing the Prince song “7” arrived to de-escalate the hostility. Many were forced to leave as conditions grew more dangerous.

“I saw Northsiders trying to stand between the outside agitators and ICE to try and get folks to stop,” said Ward 4 Councilwoman LaTrisha Vetaw. “I never want to feel defeated, but I had to say to them, ‘Y’all can’t stop this.’ It was dangerous.”

A family trying to leave the area got trapped in their vehicle when a riot shell rolled under their vehicle and exploded. Chemical irritants seeped through the vents. A 6-month-old infant stopped breathing, and the mother had to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The child and family made it out safely (see story, page 11), but were hospitalized. ICE agents left around 2 a.m. after their use of chemical irritants pushed protestors back. Public safety officials in the days that followed felt relieved it hadn’t been worse.

Amanda Harrington, the city’s director of Neighborhood Safety, said she and her staff were in constant communication with neighborhood groups on the scene and worked furiously to fact-check every social media report.

“We advised them to leave at some point because it was safe for them,” she said. “They don’t go in with the equipment like police or fire. They are just neighbors trying to help neighbors.”

The city used its alert system and social media accounts to broadcast verified information that would dispel rumors. In the early chaos, getting verifiable information from police and neighborhood groups proved challenging, and the city could not keep up with the fear and anger fueled by those on social media who did not wait for facts to go live.

“Verifying the information doesn’t happen as quickly as you need it,” said Brian Feintech, who oversees communications for police, fire, and the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department. “As soon as the barn doors open, 50 horses run out the door.”

Details of the ICE shooting

The man shot by an ICE agent, later identified as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, is a Venezuelan immigrant and allegedly had “a struggle with a federal agent,” according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

A video from inside the man’s house, shared on social media, documents his wife’s call to 911 after he was shot. “ICE agents were following my husband, and they hit his vehicle,” she said through a 911 translator. “And we closed the door on him, and they shot him.”

Two men, Alfredo Aljorna and Sosa-Celis, were outside with ICE agents after being chased in a vehicle, and, according to reporting by MPR News, Aljorna was being beaten and choked by an ICE agent.

Early reports by the police chief that Sosa- Celis was shot outside are also disputed by the family in an FBI agent’s affidavit.

**A man lay face down in protest.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

Two women in the house said as Sosa- Celis helped Aljorna get away from the ICE agent, they ran into the house and that is when the agent fired a shot through the door.

The two men stayed inside the home after the shooting. O’Hara said federal agents “eventually made entry” to the residence, and Sosa-Celis was transported to a hospital.

Aljorna was detained, as were the two women inside the house. A week after the incident, a federal judge ordered both men released, saying they did not pose a flight risk.

‘We’re caught in the middle’

Injury and death had been predicted by city officials as a surge of ICE agents, now said to number more than 3,000, converged onto Minnesota as part of an immigration crackdown ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. A majority of the agents are focusing on the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs.

**An armored vehicle was sent off with a protestor’s middle finger**. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

The tactics used over the last several weeks have escalated tension throughout the city, with protesters tailing agents in their vehicles and blowing whistles to draw crowds in hopes of disrupting arrests.

But Northsider Victor Gaten worried about how the behavior of some protesters could impact his neighborhood.

He tried to stand between the protestors and agents to plead with the crowd to not to throw things on the night of Jan. 14. He later said the unrest could reinforce negative views of North Minneapolis.

“I was telling them to get back,” Gaten said. “I’m trying to get them to understand that we don’t need this on the Northside. We don’t need the agitation and them swarming us. This is a political battle, and we’re caught in the middle.”

On Wednesday night, the rage directed at ICE agents blocking off intersections Wednesday night was palpable.

At the intersection of 27th and Lyndale, some protestors threw snowballs and water bottles at masked officers. At one point, more than 20 officers armed with riot guns held the line, retreated down the block, and used flash grenades and chemical irritants to disperse the crowd.

**A Protestor gets caught in a cloud of tear gas.** Photo by David Pierini

**Members of the crowd collapse from the irritation of tear gas.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

**Victor Gaten got in front of ICE agents, asking the crowd not to escalate tensions.** Photo by David Pierini

**An agent responds to tension between colleagues and protestors.** Photo by Azhae’la Hansonh

Harrington, who used to live in North Minneapolis, understands residents' concern about outsiders.

She said that outsiders who show up to protest should talk to those who live in affected communities.

“Sometimes people want to speak on behalf of a community and they're making assumptions about what a community or cultural group needs,” Harrington said. “It’s well-intentioned but it might be incorrect, and they could do more harm than good.

“When things get challenging, Northsiders know what Northsiders need.”

A Shooting by an ICE agent on the Northside injures 1, sparks hours of protest