The Carpinteria City Council on Monday night held a moment of silence for the two U.S. citizens shot to death in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this month by federal agents.
Federal agents’ shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, in separate incidents have sparked nationwide protests and backlash. Good was killed on Jan. 7 and Pretti was killed on Saturday.
Witnesses recorded video of both shootings, which occurred during protests to federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
Hundreds of people gathered in Santa Barbara for a vigil Monday night in response to Pretti’s death, and locals protested in response to Good’s death earlier this month.
City of Carpinteria Councilwoman Julia Mayer — who motioned to add a moment of silence in memory of Good and Pretti and a formal statement standing with the city of Minneapolis onto Monday night’s agenda — said the city should acknowledge “the tragic loss of life that has been happening in recent federal ICE operations.”
“(This statement allows) our city to publicly express solidarity with our fellow communities and affirm the city’s commitment to community, safety (and) civil liberties,” Mayer said.
Teresa Alvarez, executive director with the Carpinteria Children’s Project (CCP), thanked the council on Monday for holding a moment of silence for Good and Pretti, stating the incidents in Minneapolis are “heavy in our hearts.”
Alvarez, who spoke alongside Jessica Ramirez, CCP’s director of Family Services, said ICE activity continues to impact the Carpinteria Valley.
ICE agents have been repeatedly seen in Carpinteria over the past year, most notably on July 10, when dozens of federal agents raided a cannabis farm just outside city limits and detained at least 10 undocumented workers.
Following the Carpinteria Valley raid, federal agents and protestors clashed on the area’s Casitas Pass and Foothill roads. At least one person, Councilwoman Mónica Solórzano, was injured after federal agents used flash-bang devices on the crowd.
Ramirez on Monday said a volunteer with Carpinteria Sin Fronteras — a community group that patrols the valley for ICE sightings every morning starting around 4:30 a.m. — was pepper-sprayed in Carpinteria on Jan. 14 by a federal agent for filming ICE activity.
At least one person was detained in Carpinteria that day, the Coastal View News reported.
She also said CCP has continued to care for 53 families impacted by ICE operations locally, delivering groceries and offering funds for rent and utility assistance through grants and its Helping Hands Fund.
“Parents are afraid to leave their homes. Children are afraid to go to school,” Ramirez said. “This is not something that is happening in another city or another state…The crisis is still here.”
Minneapolis Shootings
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, later identified as Jonathan Ross, was recorded by witnesses shooting Good, who was driving her car at the time, at least three times on Jan. 7.
Good was in a Minneapolis neighborhood targeted by ICE, protesting and supporting impacted neighbors, her wife later confirmed.
Video analysis from the New York Times of the shooting show that Good appeared to be turning her car away from Ross when he shot her. Federal government representatives claimed Good was trying to hit an agent with her vehicle.
In a separate incident on Saturday, multiple federal agents shot Pretti, who appeared to be recording federal officers in the area with his phone.
As seen in videos shared online, Pretti appeared to step in to help a woman who federal agents had pepper-sprayed. He was wrestled to the ground by multiple agents.
While he was on the ground, one agent disarmed him of his holstered handgun in his waistband, which he was permitted to carry, and he was then shot multiple times by two agents.
In response to the shooting, federal government representatives claimed that Pretti approached the agents intending to “massacre” them with a gun.
This statement was refuted by multiple videos, which showed Pretti was holding his phone at the time and did not brandish his handgun.
The agents who shot Pretti have not been publicly identified. The first man who shot Pretti appears to be a Border Patrol agent, wearing a mask covering his face.