'This is horrifying' - Minneapolis residents reel from second deadly shooting

Ana Faguy, Minneapolis

BBC

At the Calvary Baptist Church in Minneapolis, the doors swung open and shut as locals sought refuge from the biting cold on Sunday.

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

In the wake of the shooting, which marked the second time in less than a month that agents in the city have killed a US citizen, the church has become what locals describe as a haven from the unrest and uncertainty outside.

There was no service here on Sunday. Instead, volunteers and church staff, such as Ann Hotz, who works at the church's daycare centre, handed out coffee, snacks and hand warmers to those who stopped by.

Some were on their way to lay flowers at a nearby memorial for Pretti.

In contrast, others visited on their way home from protests against the weeks-long federal immigration enforcement operation in the city.

"Yesterday, I fell apart," Hotz told the BBC as she helped move cases of water outside. "Today I'm here to stand with my community and help our neighbours as they remember Alex and mourn him."

"But I do have to say, the helpers are getting really tired," she added. "This is exhausting, and so we need there to be a change."

"This is exhausting, and so we need there to be a change," Ann Hotz said

"This is what America is now," 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 to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity, said supporting the community in this way was "the Christian thing to do".

Massive deportation

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 7 January.

Videos of both shootings quickly spread on social media. They prompted angry protests from those who want to see an end to an immigration enforcement operation that has seen thousands of agents deployed to the city's streets.

Several memorials to Alex Pretti have been built since his death on Saturday.

President Trump ordered the agents to the Democrat-held state in December, pledging a massive deportation of undocumented migrants.

A crackdown on illegal immigration was central to his successful re-election campaign and is backed by many around the country.

The administration has characterised the Minneapolis operation as a public safety effort aimed at deporting criminals illegally in the US. Critics warn that migrants with no criminal record and US citizens are being detained, too.

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've done a phenomenal job."

The state's Governor Tim Walz has urged the president to remove the agents immediately. "We believe that Trump needs to pull his 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another American in the street," he said on Sunday. Other state and local officials have echoed Walz's view.

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

Eyewitnesses, local officials and the victim's family have challenged that account, pointing out that Pretti had a phone in his hand, not a weapon. His parents, meanwhile, have accused the administration of spreading "sickening lies" about what happened.

Over the course of the weekend, multiple vigils were held in the city as residents sought to remember and celebrate Pretti's life.

At the site where he was killed in south Minneapolis, close to the Calvary Baptist Church, mourners gathered at all hours to lay flowers and light candles in his honour. One sign, drawn with red paint and directed at federal agents, read "stop killing us". Read more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg50vv1ezko