Touting Hartford’s commitment to due process and the rule of law, Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam promised a thorough investigation into a violent incident at a vigil Thursday night between protesters and what are believed to be federal employees.
The vigil and protest to mourn Minnesota mother Renee Good, who was shot and killed by ICE agents Wednesday, was largely peaceful, Arulampalam said at a press conference Friday, with approximately 250 people gathered at the Abraham Ribicoff federal building, which houses ICE in Hartford.
But a small group migrated around the back of the building where a gray sedan was attempting to exit the building’s parking garage. Protesters attempted to block the car and the car, followed by a white van, drove through the crowd, hitting one person, then driving away, video of the incident shows. At the same time, videos show, a man whose face is covered, appears to pepper spray the group of protesters. Videos show the crowd following after the van and one protester hitting and breaking the rear window of the van.
Emails seeking comment were sent to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices.
President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have said that Good, a mother who was shot by ICE agents in her vehicle on a Minneapolis street while apparently trying to drive away, was attempting to run over ICE agents and have called her a domestic terrorist. Federal agents have blocked local law enforcement from investigating Good’s killing, according to Minnesota officials.
In contrast, Arulampalam said Friday, anyone who commits a crime in Hartford will be prosecuted and Hartford police are investigating the incident to potentially charge the driver of the car in the hit and run, the person pepper spraying the crowd with second-degree assault and the protester who broke the window with property damage. Arulampalam said the identities of the three are not yet known but the driver and person using pepper spray are suspected to be federal employees.
The person hit by the car denied care at the scene and no one was hospitalized, Arulampalam said.
U.S. Rep. John Larson and Sen. Chris Murphy have been in touch with Arulampalam and have offered their support, they said. Larson, along with several Connecticut Democrats, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro, have called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign after they allege she lied about the incident.
“In response to yesterday’s vigil in Hartford and the incident in which a federal vehicle struck a protester, I want to be clear: the violence we are seeing is a direct consequence of the reckless escalation of militarized ICE operations and the Trump Administration’s refusal to exercise any restraint,” said Larson.
“Protesters gathered peacefully to honor a life lost in Minneapolis and instead found themselves in a confrontation that was entirely predictable given how this administration has empowered federal agents to act with impunity. That is why I am calling for the immediate resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a full and independent investigation into the killing of Renee Nicole Good, and immediate action to stop ICE from operating inside our communities without full coordination with state and local law enforcement.”
“I spoke with Mayor Arulampalam tonight about the incident in Hartford. My team and I will continue to gather details. People are right to be furious, but it’s important for our protest to be peaceful. The intent of DHS’s inhumanity is to provoke a fight. Don’t let them win,” Murphy posted on X.
What to know about the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE officer in Minneapolis
Arulampalam echoed those sentiments, noting that the frequent protests in Hartford are peaceful and that Hartford police, who had more than a dozen officers at the vigil, engage peacefully with and encourage residents to exercise their First Amendment rights.
“What happened at last night’s vigil in Hartford is the direct result of the lawlessness cultivated by the Trump administration over the past year, which culminated in the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis this week,” Arulampalam said in a statement.
Still, Arulampalam urged residents not to give into the Trump administration but to continue to act peacefully.
“We cannot give this administration the chaos it craves. But let no one mistake the cause of last night’s conflict: federal agents have acted with impunity and a clear intent to antagonize local communities across our country. When you govern by brutality, you incite unrest,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal issued an open letter to Noem, calling on her to disclose information about training procedures in use of force for ICE agents, whose number has expanded by 12,000 in a year. He called her remarks to “denigrate a beloved mother” shameful and characterized her killing as murder.
“This week, Americans watched in horror as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agent murdered an unarmed woman in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” Blumenthal’s letter began. “Beginning almost immediately after the incident, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”)—and you personally—repeatedly misstated the basic facts of this interaction notwithstanding video evidence that refutes your statements.”
In December, Blumenthal released a report, “Unchecked Authority: Examining the Trump Administration’s Extrajudicial Immigration Detentions Of U.S. Citizens,” containing accounts of 22 American citizens who, he said “were physically assaulted, pepper sprayed, denied medical treatment, and detained – sometimes for days – by federal immigration agents.
He characterized as typical “federal immigration officials acting with excessive force and then fabricating claims about the U.S. citizens who were detained.”
