Local professors analyze and react to ICE's deadly shooting of a woman in Minneapolis

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the driver's actions constituted a "domestic act of terrorism." 

Experts and lawmakers, however, say the video contradicts that.

Marquette Assoc. Political Science Professor Mark Berlin, who studies accountability for violations of human rights, analyzed the video with us: "You can see in the video that the agent who eventually shoots the driver positioned himself in front of the vehicle. It's not clear why they would do that, and that actually increases the likelihood that they're going to have to use deadly force, because it increases the likelihood that their life is going to be at risk," he said. He acknowledged the video is "very short and we don't really know what was leading up to it. There's a lot of unanswered questions."

Though an investigation is underway, we know that a review of the Department of Homeland Security policy shows firearms cannot be discharged to disable a moving vehicle -- unless, in one exception, the vehicle is being operated in a manner that poses an imminent threat.

Berlin pointed out that the vehicle was turning away from the ICE officer when the first shot was fired. "The law gives a lot of deference to law enforcement agents. If the agent can make a case that they believe they had a reasonable belief that their life would be at risk, or somebody else's life was at risk, then they are shielded from responsibility for the killing or shooting, regardless of what the actual intention of the driver was."

"Even if the law ends up being on the side of the agent, it does appear that the ICE agents in the situation unnecessarily escalated the situation," he continued. 

Stacey Nye, the director of UW-Milwaukee's psychology clinic, said it's not surprising that there are so many interpretations of the deadly incident. "The reactions that I'm noticing are tending to fall along party lines... I think it might be just like what we're living in right now, that there's such wildly diverse opinions or wildly divided opinions about what we can see with our own eyes." 

Considering the video widely shared on social media depicts a life being taken, she believes some could be getting desensitized to violent crime. "We saw someone get killed. You know, in real time, there was no warning. There was no, you know, music or lighting or trigger warning, you know, it's just right there. And so, I fear that we're getting a little desensitized to being able to see those things now, to the way people talk to each other, to the violence, to the -- all, all of it, you know, to just the level of rage and heartlessness. I think -- I fear we're becoming a little desensitized to it."

She says videos like these can be traumatizing, especially when they pop up on your social media feed with no warning. "As you're scrolling, you're seeing it over and over and over again. So that can be, you know, fairly traumatic to people, particularly people that have a history of trauma, they might have a more extreme reaction," she shared. 

Nye recommends assessing how you respond to disturbing videos and taking a break from social media if you start to feel negatively.