Hennepin County Legal professional Mary Moriarty publicizes costs in opposition to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent associated to a February incident on April 16, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Mark Vancleave/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Mark Vancleave/AP
State and native prosecutors in Minnesota charged an ICE officer Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault with a harmful weapon.
The prison costs seem like the primary in opposition to a federal immigration officer for actions allegedly taken whereas on obligation in the course of the immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota earlier this 12 months.
“At this time’s costs mirror an essential milestone in our efforts to hunt accountability for the harms inflicted on our group throughout Operation Metro Surge,” Hennepin County Legal professional Mary Moriarty stated at a press convention on Thursday asserting the costs.
The officer is recognized within the grievance as 35-year-old Gregory Donnell Morgan, Jr., a Maryland resident who was a part of ICE’s Enforcement and Removing Operations division on the time of the incident and had been detailed to the Minneapolis space.
On the afternoon of Feb. 5, the Minnesota State Patrol acquired a 911 report {that a} driver in a Ford Expedition had pointed a gun at two individuals in one other car alongside a freeway within the Twin Cities space.
In line with the grievance, the 2 alleged victims instructed authorities that that they had been caught in visitors once they noticed an unmarked black SUV developing from behind, driving on the shoulder of a freeway in Hennepin County, the place Minneapolis is situated.
The individual driving says they briefly moved their automobile onto the street’s shoulder in an effort to dam the SUV’s driver from bypassing visitors illegally and to “lower him off just a little bit.” Each alleged victims say they didn’t know the opposite driver was a federal officer.
The grievance states that Morgan then pulled up beside them, rolled down his window and pointed a black handgun instantly at each the driving force and the passenger and yelled one thing they could not discern. One sufferer instructed state regulation enforcement the encounter led them to imagine there was a “loopy individual driving down the street aiming weapons at individuals,” the grievance says.
The victims referred to as 911 and took a video displaying the SUV’s Utah license plate. State investigators used that license plate knowledge to determine that the car had been rented by one other ICE officer – Morgan’s companion who was additionally allegedly within the automobile on the time.
Throughout a voluntary interview after the incident, Morgan instructed state authorities he was driving to the Federal Whipple Constructing, used as ICE headquarters in the course of the Minnesota surge, on the finish of his shift when the incident occurred.
In line with the grievance, he instructed state regulation enforcement that he feared for his security when the victims’ automobile pulled in entrance of him, so he drew his gun and yelled “Police Cease.” Morgan stated he was attempting to get the victims to again up.
There’s a nationwide warrant for Morgan’s arrest. ICE and the Division of Homeland Safety didn’t reply to NPR’s request for remark. NPR was unable to achieve Morgan for remark.
At Thursday’s press convention, Moriarty acknowledged that the costs filed in opposition to Morgan had been coming forward of any potential costs within the instances of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good, the 2 U.S. residents shot and killed by federal immigration officers in the course of the Minnesota ICE surge, or within the case of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis who survived. All three had been shot in January.
“I wish to be clear on why these conditions are growing at completely different speeds,” Moriarty stated. “The state patrol was in a position to examine completely, determine Mr. Morgan and conduct an interview with him … Nearly not one of the obstacles round proof assortment that exist for the January shootings exist on this case.”
In late March, the state and Hennepin County sued the Trump administration, accusing it of withholding proof and stopping them from investigating all three shootings.
