Minneapolis (AFP) - An immigration officer in Minneapolis shot dead a woman Wednesday, triggering outrage from local leaders even as President Donald Trump claimed the officer acted in self-defense.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey deemed the government’s allegation that the woman was attacking federal agents “bullshit,” and called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducting a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.

Thousands of people gathered for a nighttime vigil at the scene, social media showed, while demonstrators also assembled in Manhattan, an AFP correspondent saw.

A widely shared video of the incident shows a Honda SUV apparently blocking unmarked law enforcement vehicles as they attempt to drive down a snow-covered street.

The driver, named by local media as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, attempted to drive off as officers approached and tried to open her door, with one agent firing three times with a handgun as the vehicle pulled away.

Trump, who has ordered nationwide anti-immigrant raids, accused the victim of “viciously” trying to run over the agent.

“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” he said on Truth Social, adding the agent “seems to have shot her in self-defense.”

ICE’s federal agents have been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation drive, despite the objections of local officials.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an aggressive recruitment campaign last summer to add 10,000 additional ICE agents to the existing 6,000-strong contingent.

That sparked criticism that new officers in the field were insufficiently trained.

DHS chief Kristi Noem said “any loss of life is a tragedy” but called the incident “domestic terrorism” and said Good “had been stalking and impeding (ICE’s) work all throughout the day.”

“She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle,” she said.

Wednesday’s incident came during protest action against immigration enforcement in the southern part of Minneapolis, located in the midwestern state of Minnesota.

The Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said on X the victim had tried to run over its officer who fired “defensive shots.”

- Grisly scene -

Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz called the federal government’s response to the incident “propaganda” and vowed his state would “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation.”

Witness Brandon Hewitt heard “three shots.”

“I got a bunch of video of them carrying the body to the ambulance,” he told MS NOW.

Another witness interviewed by local station FOX9 described a grisly scene.

“The surviving passenger got out of the car covered in blood,” the witness said.

He recounted seeing a man who identified himself as a doctor attempting to reach the scene but being refused access by officers.

- Anti-ICE protests -

There have been passionate protests against immigration operations of the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are “millions” of undocumented migrants.

The DHS called the violence a “direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers.”

The officer who opened fire, who was released from the hospital following the incident, was rammed and dragged along a road by an anti-ICE protester in June, Noem said.

The victim’s mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper that her daughter “was probably terrified.”

Good was “not part of anything like” challenging ICE officers, Ganger added.

Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.

ICE – which critics accuse of transforming into a paramilitary force under Trump – has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.

US authorities said up to 2,000 officers were in Minneapolis for immigration sweeps.

A US immigration enforcement officer shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Chicago in September after the man tried to resist detention by driving his car into the official, according to authorities.