‘I stood ft from the place ICE shot man in Minneapolis warzone as brokers threw tear fuel’
Shortly after 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Jeffrey Pretti was fatally shot by ICE agents this morning, our reporter arrived at the scene among hundreds of residents when ICE threw tear gas on us
Federal immigration officers threw tear gas on me following this morning’s fatal shooting(Image: )
Just hours after 50,000 people screamed “ICE out” across the city of Minneapolis, a third fatal shooting by federal agents took place on a quiet neighbourhood street.
The man was shot just after 9am US time (2pm UK time) this morning, and by 10.20am, when I arrived at the scene, hundreds of neighbours had gathered around the perimeter of yellow tape. The screams traveling down the street were chilling.
One woman screamed repeatedly: “What have you done, what have you done?” Within five minutes of arriving at the intersection of 27th Avenue and Nicollet Street, the number of ICE agents standing inside the cordoned-off area had more than doubled. They came out of nowhere, like insects, and more kept coming.
Hundreds of people stood on the other side of the yellow tape, taunting the agents with slurs, insults, and orders to “get the f*** out of Minnesota.” The man beside me compared the scene to the dystopian horror film The Purge. His friend quickly pointed out that it was actually much scarier, because “only one side has weapons.”
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Just minutes before, the body of the man who had been shot multiple times in the chest had been hauled away, after CPR was performed on him to no success. As the minutes ticked by, news reports started to confirm that he had died.
The word spread quickly amongst the bystanders, inciting a new level of fury. Chants got louder, and tensions grew even higher. One man was chased down the street at speed by an ICE agent. It was unclear what he did or said, but people cheered him on as the agent failed to catch up with him.
In the brief moment of celebration, things took a dramatic and horrifying turn. A protester threw a snowball into the sea of ICE agents, and almost immediately, they retaliated by tossing tear-gas canisters into the sea of unarmed bystanders.
Thick clouds of white smoke filled the air around us, and at once, hundreds began to run in every direction. As we ran, the bangs got louder and closer, and I realised that they were throwing them after us.
One man shouted to “cover your face” as more screamed to “clear the streets”. The canisters made a loud bang noise when they exploded, and for a brief moment, unable to see above the crowd, the thought crossed my mind that maybe they had opened fire in the crowded area.
The idea would be unthinkable most of the time, but under these war-like conditions, it seemed for a moment like it could indeed be possible. The hatred emanating from the pack of federal agents was as palpable as the fear amongst the unarmed.
The only shadow of hope in the horrifying moment was the solidarity in the crowd. As hundreds of people ran from the chemical agents that followed them through the air, they were still looking out for each other.
As I tried to cross a snow bank, my feet failed me, and I landed on all fours, hundreds of people stampeding just inches behind me. A stranger picked me up and uttered five chilling words: “You have to keep going.”
This sentiment seems to be shared by all Minnesotans at this rate. They are tired and angry, and their culture of kindness is wearing thin. However, they are united by the notion that no matter how bad things get, they will not give up and they will not back down.
