Protesters clash with federal authorities during Conn. vigil

A vehicle driven by federal officers in Hartford appeared to strike people in a crowd outside the Abraham Ribicoff federal building Thursday night during a protest over the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, according to Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam.

Videos from the scene show protesters trying to block a car and van from leaving a parking garage at the building, then the vehicles driving off slowly through the crowd. Someone then throws an object that smashes a window of the van. Some protesters also said they were pepper-sprayed. No major injuries were reported.

“What happened at tonight’s vigil in Hartford is the direct result of the lawlessness and recklessness cultivated by the Trump administration over the past year, which culminated in the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis this week,” Arulampalam, a Democrat, said in a statement late Thursday.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday morning.

Arulampalam said city police are investigating.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Good, 37, as she tried to drive away on a snowy Minneapolis street.  Videos taken by bystanders and posted online show an officer approaching a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle.

The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle draws his gun and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

It is not clear from the videos if the officer gets struck by the SUV, which speeds into two cars parked on a curb before stopping.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the SUV was part of a group of protesters that had been harassing agents and “impeding operations” that morning. She said agents had freed one of their vehicles that was stuck in snow and were leaving the area when the confrontation and shooting occurred.

No video has emerged to corroborate Noem’s account. Bystander video from the shooting scene shows a sobbing woman who says the person shot was her wife. That woman hasn’t spoken publicly to give her version of events.