Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked by a man who sprayed a liquid while lunging at her before being detained at a town hall in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
Omar was speaking to constituents in her district, which includes much of Minneapolis, about the turmoil in the city in the wake of federal immigration agents shooting Alex Pretti, the second U.S. citizen killed by federal agents in the city in less than a month.
As she spoke, a man charged at Omar and sprayed her with an unknown substance before being detained by security. She did not appear to be injured and, after a pause, continued the town hall despite a security officer’s advice to halt the event, asking him to “please not let them have the show.”
“Here’s the reality that people like this ugly man don’t understand,” Omar said. “We are Minnesota strong and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us.”
The lawmaker’s office later said on social media that the man who threw the liquid is in custody. “The Congresswoman is okay,” it said. “She continued with her town hall because she doesn’t let bullies win.”
Omar has been the subject of frequent rhetorical attacks from Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who have sought to tie the lawmaker to investigations into public benefits fraud linked with Minnesota’s Somali community. On Tuesday, Trump said the Department of Justice is investigating her personal finances while suggesting she illegally profited from her service in Congress.
The incident heightens the tensions in Minneapolis, where anti-Trump protests continue to embroil the city in response to a surge of federal immigration enforcement. Two Minneapolis residents, Pretti and Renee Good, were killed by immigration officers, sparking further backlash to the Trump administration’s immigration policies from protesters around the city.
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