Did ice shoot Venezuelan man throng door in the leg
Executive summary
Reporting shows that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent did shoot a Venezuelan man in the leg during a January 2026 enforcement action in north Minneapolis, but the claim that the agent shot the man "through the door" of a home is not corroborated by authoritative sources; federal statements say the shot occurred during a struggle after a targeted traffic stop and subsequent assault on an agent [1] [2]. Multiple outlets report witness claims and social-media accounts alleging agents fired through a door, but those accounts conflict with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) account and with mainstream reporting that the subject fled, was attacked, barricaded inside, and then wounded [3] [1] [4].
1. The official account: shot during a traffic-stop struggle, then barricade and breach
DHS and ICE described a sequence in which agents conducted a targeted traffic stop, the Venezuelan man fled, crashed and ran, and during an arrest attempt an officer was allegedly ambushed and struck — leading the officer to fire a defensive shot that struck the man in the leg; DHS said the wounded man and the agent were hospitalized and the others who attacked the agent were taken into custody [1] [2] [5].
2. Where the "through the door" narrative comes from and who repeats it
Some activist outlets and social-media posts assert that ICE followed the man home and fired into the house — phrases such as "shot him through the door" appear in those accounts and in at least one blog-style site’s summary of witness statements [3]. Newsweek and other outlets recorded family members saying "Tell them they shot the door," which documents there were local claims that a shot hit the house door, but those lines are quotes of witness belief rather than independent verification that the bullet passed through the door [2].
3. Mainstream reporting does not confirm a shot through a door
Major outlets including NPR, BBC, NBC News and The New York Times relay DHS’ description that the shot occurred amid an assault and a struggle and report that the subject fled into a residence and barricaded himself — those same reports describe agents later entering the home with a specialized team but do not present clear, corroborated evidence that the injury was caused by a round fired through a door [1] [4] [5] [6].
4. Conflicting claims, protests, and the ongoing investigations
The shooting triggered protests and conflicting political narratives: local officials have criticized federal conduct, protesters and witnesses circulated different versions of events on social media, and law-enforcement authorities — including the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension — have been reported to be conducting independent investigations into the incident, signaling that final, verified facts may change as those probe results emerge [7] [8] [5].
5. What can be concluded now — and the limits of reporting
Based on current, sourced reporting, the incontestable facts are that an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg, DHS says the shot was fired in self-defense amid an assault during a traffic-stop enforcement action, and witnesses have alleged agents fired at or into a home; however, there is no authoritative, independently verified evidence in the cited reporting that establishes the shot pierced a door to wound the man — that specific claim remains an unverified, contested eyewitness assertion pending investigative findings [1] [2] [3] [4].