Mid-Missourians protest ICE after second agent-involved shooting death
Alison Patton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
About a week after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minnesota, Mid-Missourians are gathering to protest his death.
Pretti was the second person shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis in January. His death came a little more than two weeks after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good.
CNN analyzed video of Pretti’s death, which shows the man’s interaction with ICE agents before he was shot. According to CNN, the video does not show Pretti acting aggressively or holding his handgun, which officers pulled from his waistband moments before he was shot.
A Border Patrol official stated that Pretti was actively impeding law enforcement duties, according to CNN. It’s unclear what Pretti was doing prior to the bystander videos.
As part of the daily Mid-Missouri Peaceworks protest, about 30 people gathered at Columbia City Hall on Sunday to oppose the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown.
One protester held a sign that said “Immigrants make America great.” Another sign said, “Trump lies, America dies.”
Peaceworks Director Mark Haim said the organization protests daily at the city’s Key Hole, and it matters that people come out.
“What really matters is that people feel empowered enough to come out and make their voices heard. There’s kind of a cycle that happens because people feel like they can’t make a difference,” Haim said. “If they don’t try, they won’t make a difference.”
Sunday night, a vigil was held for Pretti at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia.
Pretti was an ICU nurse and worked for the Minneapolis VA Health Care System.
The vigil was hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3399.
AFGE President Lindsay Browning said the vigil was to remember Pretti’s life, not how he died.
“We have a day for that, and today wasn’t that day. I do look forward to that day, but today was about who he was as a federal employee,” Browning said. “Alex needed to know that he’s a member, he’s important to us, no matter which local he belongs to and no matter which state he lives in.”
The candlelight vigil was open to both union members and the public. People held signs that read, “Rest in Peace our Union Brother” and “Justice for Alex.”
Attendee Karen Pasley is from Minnesota and said her first date with her husband was on the block where Pretti was killed.
“I have kind of a personal connection to that very intersection where he was gunned down,” Pasley said. “And this place–that to me is kind of sacred, and my family has been defiled by ICE thugs.”
She said seeing her home state in disarray is devastating.
“But, I am so full of pride and hope to see how people can come together to stand up against this,” Pasley said.
Another community member, Caya Tanski, said the two deadly ICE-involved shootings make her worried.
“It’s the death of Alex that makes me really sad because it seems like the demise of our democracy,” Tanski said. “Alex had a right to be on the street according to our Constitution, had a right to be on the street filming–filming what was going on, and was considered to be a terrorist.”
