Democratic officials and protesters on the streets are demanding that federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis.
“What side do you want to be on?” Gov. Tim Walz asked the public. “The side of an all-powerful federal government that could kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets, or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such government?” — a reference to Saturday’s shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
The shooting drew hundreds of demonstrators into the frigid cold in a city already shaken by another killing weeks earlier.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said information about what led up to the latest shooting is limited.
Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, was identified by his parents. The Minnesota National Guard assisted local police in monitoring the crowds.
Border Patrol senior official Gregory Bovino turned blame for the shooting to Pretti, saying he chose to interfere with law enforcement officers.
According to family and those who knew him, Alex Pretti was an avid outdoorsman who loved getting in adventures with his dog. He had participated in protests following the killing of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month.
Court records show he had no criminal record.
His family said he had never had any interactions with law enforcement beyond a couple of traffic tickets.
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