A family's journey home from a school basketball game in Minneapolis turned into a nightmare this week when they were caught in a confrontation between protesters and federal immigration agents, resulting in their six-month-old baby boy being hospitalised after exposure to tear gas.
A Peaceful Scene Turns to Chaos
Destiny Jackson, 26, was travelling with her husband Shawn and their six children on Wednesday evening. According to her account to the Associated Press, the family encountered a blocked-off street where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent had reportedly shot a man in the leg. Jackson described the scene as relatively calm, which led them to believe it was safe to inquire about the situation.
"I was just trying to get her to go home," Jackson said of another mother she saw in the area, spending half an hour urging her to leave. "I've only seen these things on TV. Some end well, some don't."
The Harrowing Attack and Fight for Survival
As tensions escalated, an ICE agent yelled at the family to leave. While attempting to manoeuvre their SUV to safety, Jackson recalled to AP that an officer rolled a tear gas canister under their vehicle. A loud bang erupted, the airbags deployed, and the car filled with noxious gas.
The mother of six said her children began screaming that they could not breathe. In the panic, the doors locked automatically. Fighting to escape, Jackson found her infant son unresponsive in his car seat. "I couldn’t breathe. And I’m pointing at the car and I’m saying, 'I have more kids, I have more kids,'" she recalled shouting to bystanders.
Video from the scene showed Jackson performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her baby while bystanders poured milk over her other children's eyes to soothe the chemical burns. "I just felt like I’m gonna give you every breath I have," she told CNN.
Aftermath and Official Responses
Emergency responders treated the six-month-old boy for respiratory distress; he was breathing and stable but in serious condition when transported to hospital. Destiny and Shawn Jackson, along with three of their children—the infant, a seven-year-old, and an eleven-year-old—all received medical treatment.
In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said officers were responding to crowds of "rioters and agitators" who had shot fireworks at agents and did not target the Jackson family. The DHS claimed the officer involved feared for his life during an ambush.
The incident occurs against a backdrop of heightened tension in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of mother-of-three Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent last week. Mayor Jacob Frey has condemned the presence of up to 3,000 additional ICE agents, saying they have "created chaos" and called for their removal.
Destiny Jackson described the ordeal as "very traumatizing," something she never imagined her family would endure. She has since faced online threats but maintains, "I was on my way home."
