All posts tagged "ice shooting"

A retired federal agent rehired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deployed to Minnesota has been involved in a hotel shooting.

The incident, which led to no deaths or injuries, led to police rushing to a Hampton Inn in December. Agent Bradley Shaver, 53, reportedly misfired his gun after changing the handle of his Glock 19. A police report seen by the Sahan Journal states the bullet travelled through into the adjacent room, where a hotel guest had checked in.

The report states the bullet went through the ICE agent's sweatshirt pocket, through the wall, and into the headboard of the bed in the opposite room.

Aaron Wukawitz, the room's occupant, says he could have been killed by the stray bullet, while an advocacy group has since questioned the ICE agent's use of his pistol at the hotel.

"That could have literally killed me," the hotel guest said.

Megan Newcomb, an organizer with Sunrise Movement, added, "The scary thing about this gun story is not only are hotel workers at risk, but people just coming to Minnesota are at risk."

Wakuwitz, 32, says he overheard a conversation between Shaver and an unnamed person speaking with the ICE agent on the phone.

“It just went off,” Shaver said, according to Wakuwitz, “You could tell in his voice it was pure panic, a total accident." Wakuwitz added, "He was like, ‘The bullet went through your room."

An Eagan officer wrote in the police report, "He [Shaver] described to me that he was holding the gun by the red dot sight and the back of the weapon while he was trying to wedge the backstrap back onto the grip.

“As he was doing this, he heard a very loud bang. Initially he thought the gunshot came from somewhere else and he yelled ‘shots fired’ and then told his wife he had to go and hung up. Shaver then felt heat on the left side of his body, looked down and saw the damage to his shirt and realized the shot had come from his own weapon."

Wakuwitz has accepted the incident was an accident, though he states Shaver must have had his finger on the trigger at the time of the shooting.

He added, "There’s no way you could do this unless your finger was on the trigger. There’s no way."

Documents recently released by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency show employees are aware its practices against members of the public are problematic.

Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, confirmed the group had received fresh documents from ICE following a Freedom of Information request. The documents, Chukwu told Politico, paint a "deeply troubling picture of the violent methods used by ICE."

Also featured is a slide deck noting ICE approval to enter homes without a warrant from the administration.

Politico columnist Eric Bazail-Eimil wrote, "A slide deck from July included notes about the administration’s controversial move to allow ICE to enter homes with only an administrative warrant — ones issued by an agency, not a court — in order to apprehend and deport unauthorized immigrants with final orders of removal.

"The slides contradicted the guidance of a May memo from [Todd] Lyons, which said that agents could use I-205 forms — which apply to those with final orders of removal authorizing an immigrant’s deportation from the United States — to enter homes."

Those slides were deemed "under review" according to instructor notes featured in the slide deck, which was finalized in July 2025. Bazail-Eimil added, "That suggests that the policy was not as iron-tight as previously believed.

"The administration has said it has the legal basis to enter homes with only administrative warrants. Congressional Democrats have insisted ICE still needs a warrant signed by a judge to enter homes."

The discrepancies, Chukwu believes, "suggest ICE knows its practices are deeply problematic — and is deliberately hiding the ball to avoid public scrutiny."

The practices discovered in the new documents contrast with Kristi Noem's recent statement, with the US Secretary of Homeland Security backing ICE in January this year.

She said on Jan. 15, "Our ICE agents are following the law and are running their operations according to training." Further findings from the documents indicate ICE is aware of the more aggressive tactics in recent months.

Bazail-Eimil added, "The emails and incident reports show that cases of ICE and Border Patrol using force go beyond isolated instances circulating on social media and surges in major cities such as Minneapolis.

"They also show that agency leadership has been aware that nationwide, the agency’s officers are using more aggressive tactics as the Trump administration has sought to increase the number of deportations of unauthorized immigrants."