Near site of Alex Pretti’s killing, a Whittier church opens its doors
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A more than 140-year-old church stands one block from the spot where a federal immigration agent fatally shot Alex Pretti. The shooting happened Saturday around 9 a.m. in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis.
On Sunday morning, a group of volunteers stood on a corner outside Calvary Baptist Church. They offered hot drinks and food to people walking their dogs or coming to and from the new memorial a block away.
“We started brewing coffee [Saturday] morning and opening up the building as a warming space for bathrooms and for respite from what was going on outside,” said volunteer and church member Brandi Olson.
She recently moved to St. Paul, but lived in Whittier for years. She called it a diverse, special place.
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“If you’ve spent any time in Whittier, you know, the food can’t be beat and the neighbors are warm,” she said. “Whittier has been really attacked hard by federal agents coming in and taking our neighbors who belong here.”
Inside the church, a few people were scattered in the pews, talking quietly with choir music in the background. Ken Nelson was there with his family.
He lives a block from the church. When the Minnesota National Guard and the Minneapolis police department set up a perimeter in the area Saturday night, he said he had to drive through alleyways to get home. He said his daughter, who attends elementary school near the church, comes home talking about ICE every day. The situation has made him uneasy.
“Just like a few weeks ago when that happened with Miss Good, my daughter was concerned about that. I took her down there so she could see how the aftermath was. Now this is hitting close to home,” he said, mentioning the killing of Renee Macklin Good by an ICE agent on Jan. 7.
Calvary Baptist Church Administrator Dean Caldwell-Tautges said the church plans to continue to provide a quiet space for a few hours in the evenings this week.
— Alanna Elder
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