What exactly happened?

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara expressed concerns about the “instability” created by the ongoing ICE operations in Minneapolis during a sit-down interview on FOX 9 All Day on Wednesday.

O’Hara on ICE operation

What they’re saying:

Speaking with FOX 9’s Amy Hockert, Chief O’Hara said the issue isn’t necessarily what the agents are doing in enforcing federal law but rather the tactics they are using to go about their business.

“I think it’s been very destabilizing for a lot of people in the community,” explained Chief O’Hara. “A significant portion of the city are immigrants and that sort of instability is something that criminals and bad actors can take advantage of and that’s been the concern.”

Identifying ICE

Big picture view:

O’Hara says he is also concerned about masked federal authorities. Often, ICE agents will be masked, in unmarked squads, and not wearing visible identification of their law enforcement status. Chief O’Hara said a bad actor posing as law enforcement is a legitimate concern, pointing to the murders of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband at the hands of a man posing as a police officer.

“Two or three months ago, the FBI put out a law enforcement bulletin saying that there were people committing violent crimes in cities around the country that were posing as ICE,” O’Hara said. “And it urged ICE to better identify themselves during law enforcement operations. And so that’s not just something I came up with – that’s something the FBI has been recommending.”

O’Hara says the department has also responded to calls from people who’ve encountered federal law enforcement and were unsure if they were legitimate.

“We have had calls from people who aren’t sure,” said O’Hara. “We’ve responded, and it turns out it was federal law enforcement. In other cases, it turns out it wasn’t. It was someone with a gun. We’ve had it happen both ways.”

The armed man and an officer who fired shots at him in Minneapolis last week have been identified by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).

The BCA identified the suspect as 26-year-old Hanun Mohamed Awow and the Minneapolis police officer who fired his gun as Ariel Luna Sanchez.

Sanchez has three years of law enforcement experience and has been placed on critical incident leave, the BCA said.

Minneapolis police officer shoots at armed man, BCA investigating: MPD

According to the BCA, officers responded around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday to a 911 call from a resident on the 3000 block of Fifth Avenue South, who said a neighbor had pointed a gun at their mom.

The caller told Minneapolis police that the neighbor, later identified as Awow, had a handgun and went back into his apartment. Officers went to Awow’s apartment and he opened the door and stepped out with a gun in his hand.

Police shouted for him to drop the gun and that’s when Sanchez fired shots, the BCA says.

Awow, who was not injured, was taken into custody by police. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said last week that he believed Awow was intoxicated at the time of the incident.

BCA crime scene personnel recovered a handgun from the scene and body cameras worn by officers.