More protests planned in Chicago after federal agents shoot, kill another Minneapolis resident
More demonstrations were planned for Sunday in Chicago after a man was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis the day before.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA hospital, was identified as the man killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the agent acted in self-defense after attempting to disarm Pretti, but Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said that account was "nonsense" after reviewing videos of the shooting.
Videos from the scene show that Pretti was holding a cellphone, not a gun, when he was shot. An agent can be seen emerging from the scuffle with a gun and turning away from the man when the first shot is fired.
This came less than three weeks after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis amid an ongoing surge in immigration enforcement action across the city.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in the wake of the latest shooting that ICE must be abolished, and several protests planned for Sunday will be somewhat echoing that message.
Two demonstrations were planned for downtown Chicago on Sunday.
Almost a dozen coalitions plan to rally and march beginning at Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue at 1 p.m. At 3 p.m., a number of different faith leaders plan to hold a prayer vigil in solidarity with Minneapolis in Federal Plaza.
On Saturday, demonstrators were seen near the arch in Chicago's Little Village community, eventually marching through the neighborhood with demands to end the government's immigration crackdown.
Protests were also held in the suburbs. In Oak Park, dozens of people gathered along a bridge over the Eisenhower Expressway, showing their anti-ICE signs and banners to drivers below.
Meanwhile, Mayor Johnson shared multiple posts to X following the deadly shooting of Pretti by federal agents on Sunday. The mayor said in part: "Chicago stands in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis confronting this tyranny. We need ICE and CBP out of our cities now."
In another post, he went on to say, "When they come for one of us, they come for us all."
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also decried Saturday's shooting in Minneapolis.
"I'm very upset about what's happening," Pritzker said. "I think governors need to get together and talk about how we can push back collectively on the federal government, and I call on governors to do that."
