Minneapolis was thick with tension Wednesday after an ICE-related shooting in the city’s south side spiked into clashes, protests, and calls for withdrawal of federal agents.
Reuters and CBS News covered the scenes of chemical irritants, angry crowds, and leaders urging calm.
Instead of pushing for de-escalation, Vice President JD Vance turned to X and injected his own analysis: a rebuttal of a civil liberties attorney’s review of the video. But, that choice isn’t calming things down.
Two unpopular opinions on the Minneapolis shooting:
1. The woman who died was at fault. She was acting erratically, inserted herself into a dangerous situation, and behaved in a way that put both herself and others at serious risk.
2. The ICE agent acted on instinct and fired… pic.twitter.com/0mnR1Z4tBR
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) January 7, 2026
A former defense lawyer who calls out constitutional overreach posted an early take on the video showing the encounter between a woman and ICE agents. He can be read as trying to defuse blame, or to detail where the law draws lines. But Vance’s response added intensity, not pause.
The original post, from a legal observer with no political axe to grind, said the clips made it evident federal agents “instigated the confrontation,” argued agents lacked authority over a U.S. citizen, and noted the woman’s steering wheel was turned as if to avoid impact while trying to leave. The attorney framed it as a case law issue: deadly force may not be used simply to prevent someone from fleeing, especially when there’s no clear right to search or detain to begin with. She prayed for the victim’s family and lamented that some conservatives were excusing the outcome — a death that leaves three children without a mother.
I’m a former defense attorney and currently a civil liberties attorney with no political dog in this fight. I watched the video at least 10 times from different angles and at different speeds and waited to offer an opinion, which I still reserve the right to change if additional…
— Jenin Younes (@JeninYounesEsq) January 8, 2026
Vance’s reply was terse, pointed, and kinetic.
“This is preposterous,” he wrote, challenging the notion that the woman was waving officers through and calling the civil attorney’s distinctions meaningless. He laid out his version of events: that she was obstructing a lawful enforcement action, that the officers weren’t random interlopers, and that video from other angles showed the vehicle hitting an agent while accelerating.
“The gaslighting is off the charts and I’m having none of it,” he concluded.
The vice president didn’t call for calm. He didn’t urge waiting for investigation results. He didn’t pivot to safety for bystanders or protesters. What he did do was amplify a crisis while many were still struggling to wrap their minds around the chaos.
This is preposterous.
First of all, she’s not waving the officers through and has no right to do so even if she were. She is waving another car through, before the officers approach her car.
Second, the officers are not randomly searching her, they are approaching her vehicle… https://t.co/2PnvK8KOCE
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 8, 2026
Across Minneapolis, CBS News crews reported federal agents using chemical irritants on demonstrators. Witnesses said they heard gunshots, then saw a crash and responders performing CPR on a bloodied person. City leaders — from the mayor demanding ICE leave the city immediately to the governor asking residents to remain calm — were pleading for tension to loosen. Police chiefs had warned for weeks that a heavy federal footprint could lead to violence.
Instead of taking that cue, Vance inserted the narrative already relayed by President Donald Trump. In Vance’s argument, the agent discharged his weapon because the vehicle was allegedly steered toward him, not away — a claim not yet settled by any official forensic account.
Ron DeSantis defends Renee Goodpic.twitter.com/6ckzhKXWwL
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) January 8, 2026
That stance resonates in some circles. But it also mirrors the kind of inflammation Minneapolis officials begged the public to avoid.
Vance’s X thread drew attention. But it was a choice of heat over pause. It’s a choice that steered the broader conversation away from safety and deeper into division.
