On the ground in Minneapolis after the killing of Alex Pretti

Steven Garcia, told to Gaby Del Valle:

I was in the middle of a frozen lake when I received the notification from Minnesota All-Star Tribune that there had been a shooting. I was on assignment at a pond hockey event, and someone who was supposed to play later that evening said they probably couldn’t make it – they knew there would be protests and demonstrations.

I arrived a little over three hours later. Federal agents had already cleared the scene – the FBI had investigated on site – so the only law enforcement present were state and local officials: the Minneapolis Police Department, their SWAT team, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota State Patrol.

There were demonstrators at several intersections. People had blocked the streets with trash cans and dumpsters, and there were mattresses on the ground. The demonstrators heckled the police, but there was no physical altercation. Finally, the police retreated as one unit and began throwing tear gas. They drove their trucks over the mattresses as they left.

When these tear gas grenades go off, they burst and explode, much like fireworks. Dozens of cartridges exploded. Even in the beginning, they were throwing four, five, six rounds at a time. I had to hide in an alley for a bit because it was getting through my mask. It’s not a fun experience, even in very small amounts. You have to keep your eyes closed. It burns your eyes, it burns your mouth. In some people, it causes nausea and burning of the skin. Another local reporter told me his neck burned and he had to use a decontamination wipe.

I think because of George Floyd in 2020, people knew how to react. Gregory Bovino, the head of the U.S. Border Patrol who has been here since the beginning, said people in the Minneapolis community were really prepared. Many people I’ve spoken to have said, “I had my respirator ready from 2020,” and they’ve just restocked on safety supplies, decontamination wipes, and first aid kits. Even if they weren’t immediately prepared, they could react quickly to these kinds of events. At every event I’ve been to, people set up a table to hand out food, water, and hand warmers. It was particularly cold today – it wasn’t supposed to get above 0 degrees.

Once officers cleared the scene, everyone gathered at the intersection of 26th Street and Nicolette, just a few hundred yards from where Alex Pretti was shot. Some community members organized a makeshift vigil for him at the site where he was killed. People spelled his name with pine cones and began leaving flowers.