Minnesota shooting of Venezuelan man is the latest where video evidence contradicts ICE accounts

Federal authorities announced an investigation Friday into two immigration officers who appeared to have made untruthful statements under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis last month.

It is among at least five shootings in which initial descriptions by the immigration officials were later contradicted by video evidence. Those included the fatal Minneapolis shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, where bystander video quickly raised questions about how they were initially described.

The probe Friday came hours after a federal judge dismissed felony assault charges against two Venezuelan men who were accused of beating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel on Jan. 14. The officer, who is not named in court filings, fired a single shot from a handgun that struck one of the men, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, in the thigh.

In an unusual reversal, prosecutors asked to dismiss the cases because they said new video evidence contradicted allegations made against the men in a criminal complaint and at a hearing last month.

Here is a look at how the five shootings were initially described and what was later learned:

Date and location: Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis

What federal officials said initially: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the immigration officer was “ambushed” by Sosa-Celis and others, and fired a “defensive shot” out of fear for his life. “What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement,” she said.

What came out later: Investigators have not released the new evidence that led charges to be dropped, but cracks were already apparent in a Jan. 21 court hearing. The immigration officer’s testimony recounting the moments before the shooting differed significantly from that of the defendants and three eyewitnesses. Available video evidence did not support the officer’s account of being assaulted with a broom and shovel.

Date and location: Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis

What federal officials said initially: Noem described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers by a woman who “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle." She said the immigration agent shot “defensively” to protect himself and the people around him. Good died of gunshot wounds to the head.

What came out later: Videos filmed from multiple angles challenged the administration’s narrative. Shortly before the shooting Good is seen at the wheel of her SUV that is parked diagonally on a street. She tells an immigration officer, “I'm not mad at you.”

Seconds later, another immigration officer grabs at the driver’s side door while Good’s wife urges her to “drive, baby, drive.” It’s unclear in the videos if the SUV makes contact with ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who shoots while standing in front of the vehicle and then twice more while quickly moving to the driver's side of the SUV as it pulls forward.

Date and location: Jan. 24, 2026, in Minneapolis

What federal officials said initially: Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Pretti approached Border Patrol officers with a handgun and he “violently resisted” when they tried to disarm him. An agent feared for his life and fired defensive shots, she said. Pretti was pronounced dead at the scene. Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino claimed Pretti intended to “massacre law enforcement," and Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller described him as “a would-be assassin."

What came out later: None of the half-dozen bystander videos collected by investigators showed Pretti brandishing his gun, which he had a permit to carry. The videos showed Pretti was holding his mobile phone as a masked Border Patrol officer opened fire.

In a tense hearing Thursday in Washington, Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky made leaders tasked with carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda watch a video of the shooting while he repeatedly scrutinized the forceful tactics used by immigration agents. Paul argued that Pretti posed no threat to the agents and said it was clear from the video that he was “retreating at every moment.”

Date and location: Sept. 12, 2025, in suburban Chicago

What federal officials said initially: Homeland Security officials said federal agents were pursuing a man with a history of reckless driving who entered the country illegally. They alleged Silverio Villegas González drove at officers and dragged one with his car. DHS said the officer fired because he feared for his life and was hospitalized with “serious injuries."

What came out later: Body camera videos from local police contradicted the Trump administration’s account. Footage showed the agent who shot Villegas González walking around afterward and dismissing his own injuries as “nothing major.”

An autopsy made public in November declared Villegas González's death a homicide. The report showed he was shot at “close range,” with wounds to his neck and fingers.

Date and location: Oct. 14, 2025, in Chicago

What federal officials said initially: A DHS news release asserted that Martinez and the driver of another car involved in a crash with a Border Patrol officer were “domestic terrorists.” An FBI agent said in court documents that she was chasing the Border Patrol vehicle and drove at one of the officers after they got out of the vehicle. The officer was forced to open fire, the FBI agent alleged, striking Martinez seven times. She was treated at a hospital and arrested on felony assault charges.

What came out later: Videos emerged that her attorneys said showed agent Charles Exum steering his SUV into her truck.

In a text message presented during a Nov. 5 hearing, Exum appeared to brag about his marksmanship. “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys," the text read.

The case against her was dismissed.

Observers film while federal agents conduct immigration enforcement operations, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Multiple residents of an affordable housing complex in Portland, Oregon, have bought gas masks to wear in their own homes to protect themselves from tear gas fired by federal agents outside the immigration building across the street. Others have taped their windows or stuffed wet towels under their doors, while children have sought security by sleeping in closets.

Some told their stories to a federal judge Friday, as they testified in a lawsuit seeking to limit federal officers' use of tear gas during protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building following months of repeated exposure.

The property manager of the apartment building and several tenants filed the suit against the federal government in December, arguing that the use of chemical munitions has violated residents' rights to life, liberty and property by sickening them, contaminating their apartments and confining them inside. They have asked the court to limit federal agents' use of such munitions unless needed to respond to an imminent threat.

“They’re simply trying to live their lives in peace in their homes," Daniel Jacobson, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said during the hearing. "Yet our federal government is knowingly putting them through hell, and for no good reason at all.”

The defendants, which include ICE and the Department of Homeland Security and their respective heads, say officers have deployed crowd-control devices in response to violent protests at the building, which has been the site of demonstrations for months.

"The conduct at issue, law enforcement’s use of crowd-control tactics to disperse unlawful crowds, does not even come close to shocking the conscience," Samuel Holt, an attorney for the federal government, said during the hearing.

The case comes amid growing concern over federal officers using aggressive crowd-control tactics, as cities across the country have seen demonstrations against the immigration enforcement surge spearheaded by President Donald Trump's administration.

In testimony, tenants of the Gray's Landing apartment complex described experiencing difficulty breathing, coughing, dizziness and other symptoms following exposure to chemicals from tear gas, smoke grenades and pepper balls. Gas canisters have hit apartments and been found in the building’s courtyard and parking garage, plaintiffs said.

A resident who used a pseudonym in court filings due to being a domestic violence survivor said she has a gas mask in her bedroom, in her living room and in her backpack, and that she has slept with one on. She described how the gas entered her apartment and triggered her post-traumatic stress: ”I could feel it, I could see it, I could taste it, I could smell it."

Erica del Nigro, another resident, said the chemicals have triggered her autoimmune syndrome and that her 12-year-old son has had hives, rashes and nightmares. Doctors have prescribed him multiple medications, including an inhaler, which he didn't need before the gassing began, she testified.

Diane Moreno, who said she has slept in her bathtub to avoid the chemicals seeping inside, said she has to have one of her adrenal glands removed due to the stressful environment exacerbating a disease that causes her to overproduce cortisol. “Not feeling safe and happy in your own home is a big stressor," she testified.

Other plaintiffs include a 72-year-old Air Force veteran who has been diagnosed with shortness of breath and mild heart failure, and a father who has taken his 7- and 9-year-old daughters to urgent care for respiratory symptoms. The girls sometimes sleep in his closet to feel safe, according to the complaint.

During the hearing, attorneys for the federal government questioned whether residents were trained in assessing imminent threats or unlawful behavior, and whether they were close enough to incidents to directly observe why officers may have deployed munitions.

The plaintiffs filed an updated request for a preliminary injunction limiting federal officers' use of tear gas late last month, after agents launched gas at a crowd of demonstrators including young children that local officials described as peaceful.

Of the affordable housing complex’s 237 residents, nearly a third are age 63 or older, according to court filings. Twenty percent of units are reserved for low-income veterans and 16% of tenants identify as disabled.

The government said in court filings that federal officers have at times used crowd control devices in response to crowds that are “violent, obstructive or trespassing" or do not comply with dispersal orders.

It has also pushed back against the claims of tenants' constitutional rights being violated, saying that under such an argument, “federal and state law enforcement officers would violate the Constitution whenever they deploy airborne crowd-control devices that inadvertently drift into someone's home or business, even if the use of such devices is otherwise entirely lawful.”

The hearing will resume next week. It came after a federal judge in a separate Oregon lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Oregon on behalf of protesters and freelance journalists, temporarily restricted agents' use of tear gas during protests at the building.

FILE - Law enforcement officers stand in the street to allow vehicles to leave a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility during a protest in Portland, Ore., Oct. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

FILE - A view of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, top left, in Portland, Ore., Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Federal agents lobbed tear gas and flash bangs at protesters in front of the ICE building on Jan. 31, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (Allison Barr/The Oregonian via AP)