FBI agent fatally shoots Chue Feng Yang during north Minneapolis standoff
MINNEAPOLIS -- An armed man was shot and killed by a federal agent in north Minneapolis on Thursday after a six-hour standoff.
According to federal officials, FBI agents were working to serve an arrest warrant for Chue Feng Yang at about 5 a.m. They had used his cellphone to track him to a residence near the intersection of Dowling and Dupont avenues. However, Yang barricaded himself, prompting negotiations that went on for several hours.
Yang was on social media filming the incident while he was inside the home, officials said.
"This person was on social media videotaping what was happening from inside the residence live," said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara. "And clearly, even from his own social media, this person was armed during this incident."
An agent fatally shot Yang when he emerged from the home just after noon. He had a hostage tied to his torso, and a shotgun pointed at her head. Another woman was in the house at the time, and she was treated for a fentanyl overdose.
Chief O'Hara and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt confirmed that no local agencies -- neither MPD nor sheriff's deputies -- used their weapons. The sheriff's office later clarified that a deputy had actually "discharged a less lethal launcher during the incident."
It is unclear if the deadly encounter was caught on body-camera footage. O'Hara said he did not know if the FBI agents were wearing body cameras, and the MPD officers were far back from the scene.
According to the federal warrant, Yang was wanted for a carjacking and police chase at the end of January. During the pursuit, a puppy was tossed from the moving car. Taho, as he was named by deputies, had to be euthanized last week.
MORE: Minneapolis woman faces animal cruelty charges months after puppy was thrown from vehicle on I-694
As Yang was livestreaming his final moments, Ben Bump was also streaming down the street.
"I was just on my way to the doctor and I saw they had a barricade situation," Bump said. "They came down and they all went towards the house with the guns drawn and the guy came out the top, so I put my camera on them and then while I was trying to hold it, there was about three shots."
Bump says he's witholding judgment on the situation until investigators release more information.
"I don't really know. It was just, I was just holding the camera and just kinda watching and documenting what was going on," he said. "You know, whenever things like this happen, it's just hard to watch. It's hard to see. It's hard to see."
Others, though, say there are questions they want to see answered.
"Why did the FBI use lethal force, but Hennepin County didn't feel the need to use lethal force? So that's one of the questions. No body camera on the FBI agents? And so we have to get down to the bottom of these things," said activist Jonathan Mason.
In a statement, FBI Minneapolis said the agency "takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under investigation by the FBI's Inspection Division."
