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Minneapolis Public Schools on Wednesday canceled classes district-wide for the remainder of the week “due to safety concerns,” following 

the killing of a woman Wednesday by an ICE agent.

 The district said it was acting “out of an abundance of caution.”

The move came after officials at Roosevelt High School said armed U.S. Border Patrol officers came on school property during dismissal Wednesday and began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders. 

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“The guy, I’m telling him like, ‘Please step off the school grounds,’ and this dude comes up and bumps into me and then tells me that I pushed him, and he’s trying to push me, and he knocked me down,” a school official, who spoke to MPR News on condition of anonymity said. 

“They don’t care. They’re just animals,” the official added. “I’ve never seen people behave like this.” 

The school leader said armed officers with apparent Border Patrol insignia on their uniforms arrived at a street near the school in several SUV vehicles during dismissal on Wednesday afternoon. They broke out the window of a vehicle. 

“There’s a car that got hit. I don’t know how it got hit. They broke out the window,” the school official said. “Then different Neighborhood Watch, people, everybody, people, the staff in the school came out. And then they started coming on the property of the school and pushing people and tackling people and shooting pepper spray and pepper balls. And they handcuffed two of our employees.” 

Video shared with MPR News show armed, masked officers with apparent Border Patrol insignia on their uniforms dragging a person on a sidewalk outside of the high school and tussling with another person as bystanders blow whistles and shout. 

The school official said some high school students were involved in altercations with officers. Many sheltered at a nearby library. 

Kate Winkel, who lives in the neighborhood near Roosevelt said she saw the Border Patrol agents on her drive home from work and witnessed agents pull a person into one of their vehicles. 

In a video shared with MPR News, a Border Patrol official is shown pushing 47-year-old Winkel to the ground after telling her to get out of the street. 

Winkel said she witnessed agents in other physical confrontations with school staff and parents on and near school property. 

“I think school property should be off-limits. I think our kids need to feel safe at school,” Winkel said. “The federal government doesn’t need to attack schools.” 

In an email sent to school families on Wednesday, school principal Christian Ledesma said the school “instituted a lockout due to law enforcement presence outside of our school involving a vehicle that stopped near our building” after the school’s regular dismissal time. Staff and students “witnessed law enforcement engage with people at Roosevelt,” Ledesma added. 

He said school counselors, social workers and district personnel would be available to any students who needed support.  

Late Wednesday, district officials told staff and families in an email that all district-sponsored programs, activities, athletics and Community Education classes would be canceled and that it would collaborate with the City of Minneapolis on emergency preparedness and response.

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Minneapolis schools closed for the week citing safety concerns after an encounter involving armed Border Patrol agents near Roosevelt High School. 

Three Border Patrol agents pin a person to the ground in the snow while surrounded by other agents.

Kerem Yücel | MPR News

A woman in a mask talks to three Border Patrol agents dressed in military gear.

A federal agent in military fatigues runs outside a house.

A crowd of onlookers outside a school record ICE agents with their phones.

Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt

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