Minnesota costs federal officer with assault for pointing gun at car throughout immigration surge : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2441x1627+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F55%2Fd4%2F93b935414c8ba3fdc76c44207622%2Fap26106609973198.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2441x1627+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F55%2Fd4%2F93b935414c8ba3fdc76c44207622%2Fap26106609973198.jpg" class="img" alt="Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent related to a February incident on April 16, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn." fetchpriority="high"/> Hennepin County Legal professional Mary Moriarty proclaims costs in opposition to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent associated to a February incident on April 16, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn. Mark Vancleave/AP cover caption

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Mark Vancleave/AP State and native prosecutors in Minnesota charged an ICE officer Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault with a harmful weapon.

The legal costs look like the primary in opposition to a federal immigration officer for actions allegedly taken whereas on responsibility through the immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota earlier this yr.

"Right now's costs mirror an necessary milestone in our efforts to hunt accountability for the harms inflicted on our neighborhood throughout Operation Metro Surge," Hennepin County Legal professional Mary Moriarty mentioned at a press convention on Thursday saying the costs.

The officer is recognized within the criticism as 35-year-old Gregory Donnell Morgan, Jr., a Maryland resident who was a part of ICE's Enforcement and Removing Operations division on the time of the incident and had been detailed to the Minneapolis space.

On the afternoon of Feb. 5, the Minnesota State Patrol obtained a 911 report {that a} driver in a Ford Expedition had pointed a gun at two folks in one other car alongside a freeway within the Twin Cities space.

In line with the criticism, the 2 alleged victims instructed authorities that they'd been caught in visitors after they noticed an unmarked black SUV developing from behind, driving on the shoulder of a freeway in Hennepin County, the place Minneapolis is positioned.

The particular person driving says they briefly moved their automotive onto the highway's shoulder in an effort to dam the SUV's driver from bypassing visitors illegally and to "lower him off just a little bit." Each alleged victims say they didn't know the opposite driver was a federal officer.

The criticism states that Morgan then pulled up beside them, rolled down his window and pointed a black handgun immediately at each the driving force and the passenger and yelled one thing they could not discern. One sufferer instructed state regulation enforcement the encounter led them to imagine there was a "loopy particular person driving down the highway aiming weapons at folks," the criticism says.

The victims known as 911 and took a video displaying the SUV's Utah license plate. State investigators used that license plate information to determine that the car had been rented by one other ICE officer – Morgan's associate who was additionally allegedly within the automotive on the time.

Throughout a voluntary interview after the incident, Morgan instructed state authorities he was driving to the Federal Whipple Constructing, used as ICE headquarters through the Minnesota surge, on the finish of his shift when the incident occurred.

In line with the criticism, he instructed state regulation enforcement that he feared for his security when the victims' automotive pulled in entrance of him, so he drew his gun and yelled "Police Cease." Morgan mentioned he was making an attempt to get the victims to again up.

There's a nationwide warrant for Morgan's arrest. ICE and the Division of Homeland Safety didn't reply to NPR's request for remark. NPR was unable to succeed in Morgan for remark.

At Thursday's press convention, Moriarty acknowledged that the costs filed in opposition to Morgan had been coming forward of any potential costs within the circumstances of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good, the 2 U.S. residents shot and killed by federal immigration officers through the Minnesota ICE surge, or within the case of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis who survived. All three had been shot in January.

"I wish to be clear on why these conditions are creating at totally different speeds," Moriarty mentioned. "The state patrol was in a position to examine completely, determine Mr. Morgan and conduct an interview with him … Just about not one of the obstacles round proof assortment that exist for the January shootings exist on this case."

In late March, the state and Hennepin County sued the Trump administration, accusing it of withholding proof and stopping them from investigating all three shootings.