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

At Calvary Baptist Church in Minneapolis, doors opened and closed as locals sought shelter from the freezing cold on Sunday.

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

Following the second shooting in less than a month in which a U.S. citizen was killed by agents in the city, the church has become a place locals describe as a refuge from the unrest and uncertainty outside.

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

Some went to lay flowers at a nearby memorial for Pretti, while others visited on their way home from protests against a weeks-long federal immigration enforcement operation in the city.

“I fell apart yesterday,” Hotz told the BBC as he helped carry cases of water outside. “I am here today to stand with my community and help our neighbors as we remember and mourn Alex.”

“But I have to say, the assistants are starting to get really tired,” he added. “This is exhausting and that’s why we need a change.”

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

Caldwell-Tautges, who handed out whistles used to warn people of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity, said supporting the community in this way is “something Christians should do.”

For the second time this month, the city of Minneapolis is at the forefront of the national immigration debate. Another Minnesota resident, Renee Nicole Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7.

Videos of both attacks spread quickly on social media. They sparked angry protests from those calling for an end to the immigration enforcement operation, which saw thousands of agents deployed on the city’s streets.

President Trump ordered agents into the Democratic-held state in December and promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. The crackdown on illegal immigration was central to his successful re-election campaign and is supported by many across the country.

The administration has characterized the Minneapolis operation as a public safety effort aimed at deporting criminals illegally to the United States. Critics warn that immigrants and U.S. citizens without criminal records are also detained.

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

“We will leave at some point,” Trump said. “They did an outstanding job.”

The state’s Governor, Tim Walz, called on the president to fire the agents immediately. “We believe Trump should withdraw 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 agents opened fire in self-defense on Saturday after Pretti, who it said was carrying a handgun, resisted attempts to disarm him.

Eyewitnesses, local officials and the victim’s family disputed this account, stating that Pretti was holding a phone, not a gun. His family, meanwhile, accused the administration of spreading “sickening lies” about what happened.

Numerous vigils were held throughout the weekend as residents of the city tried to remember and celebrate Pretti’s life.

At the spot 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. “Stop killing us,” said a sign painted in red paint and directed at federal agents.

Pege Miller, a 69-year-old lifelong Minneapolis resident, was among those who gathered Sunday afternoon to protest ICE and pay tribute to Pretti.

“I’m tired of protesting,” he said. “We can’t understand how this happened. Why do we allow this?”

“We are on edge,” he added. “We don’t know what will happen next.”

Hundreds of people gathered for an impromptu protest in the city center later Sunday. Many people there expressed anger and sadness about the immigration operation. Protesters repeatedly chanted, “Minnesota is no longer beautiful, Minneapolis will attack.”

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

He held a sign that read “ICE out,” while dozens of other posters in the crowd also featured profanities directed at immigration officials.

“I don’t understand how they can go in, kidnap people who are citizens, and start treating them like animals,” Johnson said.

Few Minnesotans the BBC spoke to said they supported ICE operations, but several surveys show that Nearly half of voters nationwide support President Trump’s efforts to deport those living in the United States illegally.

Other polls show voters are divided on how Trump is cracking down on undocumented immigrants. One was run by Politico A development that emerged shortly after Renee Good’s death this month revealed that nearly half of Americans feel the mass deportation campaign is too aggressive.

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

“I joined [the military] “To serve a developing and growing country, even though it is never perfect,” he said.

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