‘This isn’t normal, that’s what scares me’: Locals gather to mourn those killed by federal officers
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IDAHO FALLS — Over a thousand miles away from where two Minnesota residents were recently killed by federal officers, over 200 local community members gathered at the Bonneville County Courthouse Sunday evening to mourn them.
“We’re gathered in the cold with candles in our hands because something happened in Minneapolis that should make us pause and make us stop in our tracks,” David Roth, an organizer of the event, said to the crowd.
“A life ended, a family is grieving,” he said. “A community is shaken, and whatever your politics are, whatever you believe about immigration policy, none of us should be comfortable with the idea that government interaction can end in a fatal shooting, and then we move on as if it’s routine.”
On Jan. 7, 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. According to the Associated Press, Good had just dropped off the youngest of her three children at school before the encounter with ICE.
According to PolitiFact, a fact-checking organization, federal officials have described Good’s actions that day as “domestic terrorism,” saying she weaponized her vehicle against an ICE officer. From independent reviews of video footage, Good’s vehicle moved toward him, but it appears he was able to move out of the way and fire at least two of the three shots from the side of the car.
On Saturday, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer. Pretti was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital, according to the AP. The Department of Homeland Security said he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a handgun. In bystander videos of the shooting, Pretti is seen with a phone but not a visible weapon.
RELATED | What we know about the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis
“When someone dies at the hands of the state, the public deserves the truth, full transparency, independent investigation, preserved evidence and public accountability,” Roth said. “Not spin. Not secrecy. And certainly not ‘trust us.’”
Miranda Armenta, who also helped organize the event, said during a brief interview that it’s important to analyze the Federal government’s narratives by looking back at history.
“Slavery was legal at some point,” Armenta said. “That was on the right side of history to some people. We need to be able to discern what’s wrong and what’s right for ourselves, not just what the government tells us is what’s right and what’s wrong.”
“This isn’t normal, that’s what scares me,” said one attendee, Melissa Danielson-Zaladonis, who visibly teared up during the vigil.
“I’ve never had to do anything like this, and that’s what’s kind of getting to me,” Danielson-Zaladonis said. “It’s getting serious. Renee Good and Alex should still be with us.”
Another attendee, McKenna Houdek, said she’s become very “passionate about the injustices that have been happening.”
“I have a lot of Hispanic friends. I’m adopted, and so is my brother,” Houdek said. “He’s Native American, and he has brown skin, and it’s a very prominent feature of his. And it just makes me so nervous for him. … I have Hispanic relatives and friends, and I want them to be safe.”
“Renee Rood, Alex Pretti — those are your neighbors, those are your loved ones, those are your family members,” said Chance Marshall, another event organizer. “What we are fighting against here today is not unknown to many of us here. We’ve read about it in the history books.”
“My grandfather lived in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation,” Marshall said. “He was stopped when he was 16 years old and asked for his papers — not unsimilar to the way that ICE is asking these immigrants for their documentation. Luckily, my grandfather didn’t have his papers. Because if he had, it’d have a special symbol on that paperwork that would have sent him to a place that would have condemned him to death.”
Miranda Marquit, another organizer, then asked everyone to remember not only those killed, but those who are also “languishing” and “unjustly imprisoned.” Marquit said a letter-writing campaign to elected officials will be held at the Villa Coffeehouse at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
As the sun set on the county courthouse, the temperature dropped and the speeches ended. Still, the crowd lingered as they chatted with one another by candlelight.