After the death of Renee Good a few weeks ago, another American citizen has been shot to death by ICE agents, and the sports world is affected now, too.
Since Minneapolis has been ground zero of the intensifying disagreement, the hometown Minnesota Timberwolves are getting some extra downtime at home.
“The National Basketball Association game scheduled for today between the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center has been postponed,” an official league statement read. “The decision was made to prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community.”
Instead, the game has been rescheduled for today, January 25, at 5:30 p.m. ET at Target Center.
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The abundance of caution comes after Saturday’s protests led to another ICE-related shooting just two miles from the arena.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, the shooting took place around 9 am when a man later identified as Alex Pretti approached ICE agents with a handgun during a “targeted operation.”
“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted,” reads a statement from Homeland Security.
An agent claimed that in self-defense, he shot Pretti, an ICU Nurse, and “medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.”
DHS adds that “the suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID,” so they assumed he was going “to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Several angles of the incident have made the rounds on social media, with CNN reporting that the tape it reviewed shows Pretti brandishing only a cellphone. In another review, The Washington Post shows several officers surrounding him and taking his gun away before shooting him several times.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz spoke out about the shooting and ICE’s continued presence in his state.
“Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,” he said. “The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
The shooting has only intensified the protests both in the streets around major American cities and online.