Minneapolis has a new routine, and it is not the one the city wants. Whistles, vigils, hand warmers, and a question that keeps getting louder with every new video: what exactly happened in the street, and who gets held to account?
In less than a month, two US citizens have been killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, according to reporting by BBC News. The Department of Homeland Security says the most recent shooting was self-defence. Eyewitnesses, local officials, and the victim’s family say that the account does not match what they saw.
A church turns into a command centre for grief
On a bitter Sunday, the doors at Calvary Baptist Church kept swinging as residents stepped inside to warm up, grab coffee, and regroup. The 140-year-old church sits blocks from where Alex Pretti, described as an intensive care nurse, was shot and killed during a confrontation with federal immigration agents.
There was no service. Volunteers handed out snacks, water, and hand warmers. Some people stopped in on their way to lay flowers. Others came from protests against a federal immigration enforcement operation that has reportedly brought thousands of agents to Minneapolis streets.
One church staffer, Ann Hotz, described the emotional crash after the shooting. “Yesterday, I fell apart,” she told the BBC. Then she added the line that has been repeated across the city since: “But I do have to say, the helpers are getting really tired. This is exhausting, and so we need there to be a change.”
The flashpoint: two shootings, one month, and a pile of competing narratives
Pretti’s death is not an isolated incident. Minneapolis is now at the centre of a national immigration and enforcement fight for the second time in the same month, after another Minnesota resident, Renee Nicole Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent on 7 January.
Both shootings were quickly swallowed by the modern accelerant of public outrage: video. Footage reportedly spread rapidly on social media, helping trigger protests demanding an end to the federal operation.
Detailed info of what happened on the ICE shooting Alex Pretti from 48 seconds before shooting to shots fired.
9f5/7 pic.twitter.com/hn7y68D2hb
— DOZA 928 (@lil_doza) January 26, 2026
State leaders piled on. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz urged the president to remove the agents. “We believe that Trump needs to pull his 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another American in the street,” Walz said, as quoted by the BBC.
🇺🇲 U.S. | “Another fatal shooting in Minnesota by federal agents shows President Donald Trump’s crackdown has gone far beyond undocumented immigrants” https://t.co/iVJz5NM9pD pic.twitter.com/EKM5LiJceX
— Abu Hayat Mahmud (@AbuHayatMahmud7) January 26, 2026
DHS says self-defence. Witnesses and family say: phone, not gun
The Department of Homeland Security offered a clear explanation, and it is one with huge legal and political consequences. DHS said agents fired in self-defence after Pretti, who they said had a handgun, resisted attempts to disarm him, per the BBC’s account.
But the BBC reported that eyewitnesses, local officials, and Pretti’s family challenged the DHS version, saying he had a phone in his hand, not a weapon. His parents accused the administration of spreading “sickening lies” about what happened.
That contradiction is the story now. In a moment where federal enforcement is expanding, the most basic facts are being fought over in public, and the city is watching the argument unfold in real time.
“Stop killing us”: memorials, whistles, and a city that says it is bracing
Vigils followed the shooting. At the site in south Minneapolis where Pretti was reportedly killed, people left flowers and candles around the clock. One sign aimed at federal agents read “stop killing us,” according to the BBC.
Inside Calvary Baptist, the church administrator, Dean Caldwell-Tautges, handed out whistles used to alert residents to ICE activity. He described the recent actions of federal immigration agents in his hometown with a grim assessment: “This is what America is now.” He said supporting the community was “the Christian thing to do,” according to the BBC.
Protesters were not just mourning. Many were warning that what happened to Pretti could happen again, and soon. “We’re on tenterhooks,” Minneapolis resident Pege Miller, 69, told the BBC. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Downtown protest grows, and the politics get messy fast
Later that Sunday, hundreds reportedly gathered for an impromptu downtown protest. Protesters chanted, “No more Minnesota nice, Minneapolis will strike,” according to the BBC.
Protesters stormed a hotel in Minnesota “where ICE agents were staying” during the riots that erupted after the shooting of Alex Pretti pic.twitter.com/CwtOotTRnz
— PrinkiPiglet (@KsuO66692) January 26, 2026
One demonstrator, Felix Johnson, told the BBC he protested for the first time in his life after seeing a video that appeared to show a four-year-old girl left in a car after her father was detained by ICE. He carried a sign reading “ICE out.”
Another man held a sign that read “Veterans Against ICE” and told the BBC his view of the crackdown had collided with his idea of national ideals. “I joined to support the tenets of freedom of this country and what we’re seeing here, this is the opposite, this is not promoting freedom. This is horrifying.”
Why this battle is bigger than Minneapolis
Minneapolis is now carrying the kind of national symbolism that usually comes with court cases, congressional hearings, and televised standoffs. On one side: the federal government defending an enforcement operation and a claim of self-defence. On the other: a city that says the operation is sweeping up citizens, traumatizing neighborhoods, and turning routine encounters into fatal ones.
The BBC also noted a political reality that complicates the picture: while few Minnesotans the outlet spoke to supported the ICE operations, multiple polls suggest about half of voters nationwide support President Trump’s efforts to deport people living in the US illegally. The issue is not just whether enforcement happens, but how it is carried out and what happens when force is used.
That makes the details of the Pretti shooting more than a local dispute. If DHS is correct about a handgun and resistance, officials will argue lethal force was justified. If eyewitnesses and the family are correct about a phone, the pressure for investigations, accountability, and operational changes will intensify, with Minneapolis as the cautionary headline.
What comes next: the demand for proof, not just statements
Residents are waiting for clarity that goes beyond competing narratives. Videos of both shootings have reportedly circulated widely, and that local and state officials have publicly urged the federal government to pull agents out.
FFor now, the city’s story is being told in two places at once: on the streets, where mourners keep returning to candlelit memorials, and in official messaging, where self-defence is asserted while witnesses insist the object in a hand was something else entirely.
Minneapolis is not asking for another slogan. It is asking for receipts. Until those arrive, the scene at Calvary Baptist says it all: open doors, tired helpers, and a community bracing for the next update.
