Did ice throw tear gas outside a preschool

1. What the footage and local reporting show

Bystander videos circulating online show armed officers throwing and kicking canisters while people on scene shout that children are nearby and that the location is a preschool; The Guardian describes such a clip and notes witnesses yelling “This is a preschool, you stupid motherfuckers!” as canisters are handled ^[1], and a social post hosting a video similarly stated ICE agents deployed tear gas outside a Minneapolis preschool ^[2].

2. How major outlets and local officials described the events

Several mainstream outlets — including The New York Times, Fox9, ABC7 and People — reported federal agents deployed tear gas and chemical irritants during Minneapolis protests, with children hospitalized after exposure and school districts canceling classes; those stories document injuries and official statements about tear‑gas deployment at protests near federal buildings and neighborhoods ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}.

3. The question of who actually fired the canisters

At least one careful account notes that the officers seen tossing canisters in the “preschool” clip wore uniforms more consistent with Minneapolis local or state police rather than federal ICE markings, and The Guardian explicitly flagged that the footage “likely” showed local or state police rather than federal agents — a distinction that matters legally and for agency accountability ^[1]. Multiple outlets also report disagreement between local witnesses and federal statements about which unit deployed chemical agents ^[3].

4. Federal denials and conflicting official statements

The Department of Homeland Security has in some reporting denied that tear gas was used in particular incidents even as teacher unions, local school officials and other observers said chemical irritants were deployed, demonstrating a persistent conflict between official federal denials and ground‑level accounts of exposures that affected children and schools ^[3].

5. Broader pattern and context reporters emphasize

Reporting establishes a broader pattern: protests over ICE operations in Minnesota and other cities have repeatedly seen chemical agents deployed near children, playgrounds or schools, and those incidents have prompted cancellations, hospital visits and public outrage — coverage that includes examples beyond Minneapolis such as Chicago and Portland, suggesting this is not an isolated perception ^{[8] [3]}.

6. Where the evidence is clear — and where it stops

It is clear from multiple contemporaneous news reports and bystander videos that tear gas or similar chemical irritants were used in Minneapolis protests and that one widely shared clip captures canisters being thrown near a preschool while parents and residents object; however, the precise identification of the firing agency in that preschool clip is disputed by reporters who identify uniforms as likely local or state police and by DHS denials in other incidents, so the record does not conclusively prove that ICE — as opposed to other law enforcement — personally threw the canisters in every video or incident being shared ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

7. Bottom line for readers assessing the claim

The strongest, supportable claim from the reporting is that chemical irritants were deployed near a Minneapolis preschool and that videos show officers handling canisters there; attributing those specific actions to ICE is plausible in some incidents covered by national outlets but is not uniformly confirmed — some footage appears to show non‑federal uniforms and DHS has at times denied using tear gas — so the direct assertion “ICE threw tear gas outside a preschool” is supported by eyewitnesses and some coverage but remains contested on agency attribution in key clips ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.