‘This is horrifying’ – Minneapolis reels from second deadly shooting

At Calvary Baptist Church in Minneapolis, doors opened and closed as residents sought refuge from the bitter cold Sunday.

The 140-year-old building is just blocks from where Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by federal immigration agents during a confrontation Saturday morning.

Following the shooting, which marked the second time in less than a month that a U.S. citizen was killed by agents in the city, the church became what residents describe as a refuge from outside unrest and uncertainty.

There was no service here on Sunday. Instead, volunteers and church staff, like Ann Hotz, who works at the church’s daycare, handed out coffee, snacks and hand warmers to those who passed by.

Some were on their way to lay flowers at a nearby memorial for Pretti, while others were visiting him on their way home from protests against the city’s weeks-long federal immigration enforcement operation.

“Yesterday I collapsed,” Hotz told the BBC as she helped move crates of water outside. “Today, I am here to stand with my community and help our neighbors as they remember and mourn Alex.”

“But I must say that the assistants are really starting to get tired,” she added. “It’s exhausting and so we need a change.”

“This is what America is today,” Dean Caldwell-Tautges, the church administrator, said of the actions of federal immigration agents in his hometown in recent weeks.

Caldwell-Tautges, who was handing out whistles used to alert people of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities, said supporting the community in this way was “the Christian thing to do.”

The city of Minneapolis now finds itself at the forefront of the national immigration debate for the second time this month. Renee Nicole Good, another Minnesota resident, was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7.

Videos of the two shootings quickly spread on social media. They have sparked angry protests from those who want to see an end to an immigration enforcement operation that has seen thousands of officers deployed on the city’s streets.

President Trump ordered agents to the Democratic-held state in December, promising a mass expulsion of undocumented migrants. Crackdown on illegal immigration has been central to the success of his re-election campaign and is supported by many across the country.

The administration has called the Minneapolis operation a public safety effort to illegally deport criminals to the United States. Critics warn of migrants without criminal records and U.S. citizens also being detained.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Trump praised the agents’ work but suggested the operation would eventually end, although he did not specify when.

“At some point we will leave,” Trump said. “They did a phenomenal job.”

State Governor Tim Walz urged the president to remove the agents immediately. “We believe Trump needs to remove his 3,000 untrained agents from Minnesota before they kill another American in the street,” he said Sunday. Other state and local officials echoed Walz’s view.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the agents fired in self-defense after Pretti, who they said had a handgun, resisted their attempts to disarm him Saturday.

Eyewitnesses, local officials and the victim’s family disputed this version, pointing out that Pretti had a phone in his hand and not a weapon. His parents, meanwhile, accused the administration of spreading “sickening lies” about what happened.

Over the weekend, several vigils were held around the city as residents sought to remember and celebrate Pretti’s life.

At the site where he was killed in south Minneapolis near Calvary Baptist Church, mourners gathered at all hours to lay flowers and light candles in his honor. A sign, drawn in red paint and aimed at federal agents, said “stop killing us.”

Pege Miller, 69, a longtime Minneapolis resident, was among those gathered Sunday afternoon to protest ICE and pay tribute to Pretti.

“I’m tired of protesting,” she said. “We can’t understand how this happens. Why are we letting this happen?”

“We are in suspense,” she added. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

Hundreds of people gathered for an impromptu protest in the city center on Sunday. Many expressed anger and sadness at the immigration operation. Protesters repeatedly chanted, “No more nice Minnesota, Minneapolis is going on strike.”

Among those chanting was Felix Johnson, who said he protested for the first time in his life a few weeks ago when he saw a video showing a four-year-old girl abandoned in a car after her father was arrested by ICE.

He held a sign reading “ICE out,” while dozens of other posters in the crowd contained profanities directed at immigration officials.

“I don’t understand how they can come in and start kidnapping citizens and treating them like they’re animals,” Johnson said.

Few Minnesotans the BBC spoke with said they support ICE operations, but several polls suggest that about half of the nation’s voters support President Trump’s efforts to deport people living in the United States illegally.

Other polls indicate voters are divided on how Trump is handling this crackdown on undocumented immigrants. A study conducted by Politico shortly after Renee Good’s death this month suggested that about half of Americans felt the mass deportation campaign was too aggressive.

At the protest in downtown Minneapolis on Sunday, a man held a sign reading “Veterans Against ICE.”

“I joined [the military] serving a country that, while never perfect, was a country that was improving and growing,” he said.

“I joined to support the principles of freedom of this country and what we see here is the opposite, it does not promote freedom. It’s horrible.”