Locals organizing candlelight vigil for those killed in Minneapolis shootings
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IDAHO FALLS — Locals are holding a candlelight vigil in front of the Bonneville County Courthouse Sunday in response to the killing of a Minnesota man during a federal immigration crackdown.
CNN reports the man killed in Minneapolis on Saturday was 37-year-old Alex Pretti. City officials described him as a lawful gun owner and U.S. citizen. The shooting occurred on a frigid morning as federal agents, seen in video footage, wrestled a man to the ground before a burst of gunfire.
RELATED | What we know about the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis
Angry protesters were drawn to the shooting scene in a city already reeling from two other shootings by federal law enforcement this month. Saturday’s shooting unfolded just over a mile away from where Renee Good was shot on Jan. 7. A week after Good was killed, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a Venezuelan man in the leg.
Protestors lined the Broadway Bridge in Idaho Falls two weeks ago to protest Good’s shooting and the Trump Administration’s deployment of ICE agents around the country.
RELATED | Idaho Falls protestors respond to fatal Minneapolis shooting of U.S. citizen
A local group is holding a candlelight vigil to remember those who were killed. It’s happening Sunday at 5:30 p.m. on the steps of the Bonneville County Courthouse.
Miranda Marquit, who grew up in Idaho Falls, is helping to organize the event, along with Miranda Armenta, Chance Marshall and David Roth.
Marquit provided some perspective on the shootings in a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com.
“If the government can decide on a whim that you carrying a legal firearm, holstered, is grounds for summary execution, then we don’t actually have the rights that we claim to have,” Marquit says.
She says this will be a peaceful event and is open to “all people of goodwill and peace.”
“It’s a time to remember those who have been killed and stand in solidarity with those who would like to see us preserve the last vestiges of American-style democracy, and who are supportive of retaining the republic,” Marquit says.
