Washington — A man sprayed Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar with an unknown liquid at a town hall in Minneapolis on Tuesday, but she appeared to be OK and declined to immediately leave the event to get checked out.
The man was immediately apprehended and was booked into Hennepin County Jail for third degree assault, the Minneapolis Police Department told CBS News. Police said Omar was not injured.
Omar, a Democrat, was calling for the abolishment of ICE and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign when a man sitting in the front row rushed up to her and sprayed her with a substance while yelling at her. Local police said he used a syringe.
Security personnel grabbed the man, who was led out of the room in handcuffs, while other staff tried to get Omar to leave.
Omar refused, saying, “We will continue. This f***ing a**hole is not going to get away with it!”
“Here’s the reality that people like this ugly man don’t understand: We are Minnesota strong and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us,” Omar said, before continuing to speak and take questions for almost 30 minutes.
Someone in attendance said that whatever was sprayed “smells so bad” and urged Omar to “go get checked.”
CBS News has reached out to Omar’s office and the U.S. Capitol Police for more information.
The incident at Omar’s event comes during a tense period in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by two Customs and Border Protection agents on Saturday, which prompted days of protests.
Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to the Twin Cities area since last month as part of a crackdown by the Trump administration that has drawn stiff criticism from Omar and other local politicians.
This is a developing story and will be updated.