January 24th, 2026
This is a breaking and developing story. Details continue to emerge.
In a nation that desperately needs leadership to turn down the temperature, we have a president pouring gasoline on the fire.
This morning, federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old American citizen on the streets of Minneapolis. According to city officials, the man—a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry—was killed during what the Department of Homeland Security claims was a “targeted operation.” But video evidence circulating online tells a story that’s becoming all too familiar in Trump’s America: masked federal agents wrestling a man to the ground, then shooting him multiple times as he lay there.
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This wasn’t an isolated incident. Another shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. Another body. Another family destroyed.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara painted a damning picture: the victim’s only interaction with law enforcement had been traffic tickets. He was a Minneapolis resident. An American citizen. A legal gun owner exercising his Second Amendment rights in a state that allows open carry. And now he’s dead, killed by federal agents operating with what Mayor Jacob Frey called “impunity” in American cities.
The Department of Homeland Security’s narrative is already crumbling under scrutiny. They claim the man “approached” Border Patrol officers with a handgun during their operation and “violently resisted” when they tried to disarm him. But video analyzed by open-source investigators suggests something far different—that the man may have already been disarmed before the fatal shots were fired.
Eliot Higgins, founder of the renowned investigative outlet Bellingcat, put it bluntly on Bluesky: “Treat the US government and ICE claims like you’d treat a Russian government claim after they’ve shot down an airliner or bombed a hospital. America 2026.”
When the founder of one of the world’s most respected investigative journalism organizations tells you to treat your own government’s statements with the same skepticism you’d apply to an authoritarian regime, we’ve crossed a dangerous threshold.
Governor Tim Walz has demanded that President Trump withdraw ICE from Minneapolis and allow Minnesota to lead the investigation. “I told the White House the state must lead the investigation,” Walz said, emphasizing that state investigators must be allowed to “secure justice.” He’s right to be concerned—federal agents have already demonstrated they cannot be trusted to police themselves.
This comes on the heels of the high-profile shooting of Renee Good and amid days of mass protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. Minneapolis is on edge, and for good reason. Federal agents in unmarked vehicles, wearing masks, are patrolling American streets and leaving bodies in their wake.
Mayor Frey’s words should chill every American: videos show masked agents “pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death.” This is what occupation looks like. This is what happens when federal law enforcement operates without accountability, without oversight, and—as Frey said—with impunity.
At a moment when our country needs steady leadership, when tensions are running high and communities are demanding accountability, we have a president who campaigned on being “tough” and who views American cities as enemy territory to be conquered rather than communities to be served.
We should have a president calling for calm, demanding transparency, and ensuring that federal agents operating on American soil are held to the highest standards. Instead, we have a president who views law enforcement brutality as a feature, not a bug. A president who sees protests as threats rather than the exercise of constitutional rights. A president who stokes division when we desperately need unity.
The details will continue to emerge. The video evidence will be analyzed. The investigations will proceed—if federal agents allow them to. But one thing is already crystal clear: in Trump’s America, we can’t even stand on a sidewalk in our own neighborhoods without fear of being harassed—or worse—by the president’s secret police. Masked agents in unmarked vehicles now patrol American streets with the kind of impunity we used to condemn in other countries. This is the reality Trump has created, where simply being present during a federal operation can cost you your life, even if you’re a U.S. citizen minding your own business in your own city.
This is not normal. This is not acceptable. And this blood is on the hands of an administration that has chosen confrontation over de-escalation at every turn.
Stay tuned for updates as this story develops.
