When Alex Pretti was gunned down by federal agents on an icy Minneapolis street, Fabiola listened in horror as the gunshots rang out on her block.It wasn’t long before the 30-something was poring over videos of the scene, trying to piece together events.”When I saw the images, I was disgusted,” she told AFP, declining to share her full name for fear of reprisal.”How can the government make a domestic terrorist out of him?” she said, outraged. “There is clear evidence of what happened. They are lying.”On Saturday, 37-year-old Pretti became the second Minneapolis resident to be killed by immigration enforcement officers in less than three weeks — enraging locals who are still grieving the slaying of Renee Good at the hands of federal agents.Earlier this month, the agent who shot and killed 37-year-old Good was at the driver’s side door as she was driving away when he opened fire, according to several videos.Similarly, footage of Pretti shows him approaching federal officers with his phone, not a weapon, as Trump administration officials quickly suggested after he was killed.Even after being beaten on the ground and surrounded by agents, Pretti did not appear to be trying to grab his handgun — for which he had a permit, police have confirmed.At the sidewalk memorial near where the shooting occurred two signs amid the flowers and candles capture the feelings of many visitors who braved the polar cold to pay their respects: “Believe your eyes, not the lies,” reads one. “Trump is a murderer,” declares the other.”They will never admit that they are just hunting people and killing people,” Fabiola said. “They are the criminals.” – ‘Terrorizing citizens’ -“The whole community is just sickened by all this,” said Stephen McLaughlin, who came to pay his respects.The 68-year-old retired prosecutor said US President Donald Trump “clearly thinks he’s above the law” and has militarized immigration enforcement.”Trump clearly said in 2016 that he could commit murder on Fifth Avenue (in New York) and get away with it. What we’re seeing today is just the logical conclusion of that reasoning,” McLaughlin said.”The aim of the government is to terrorize citizens, it’s really frightening,” he added. Even fellow Republicans are voicing outrage in the wake of the Trump administration’s hasty and harsh characterization of Pretti’s death, as the 79-year-old Republican appears to be shifting messaging.The president made phone calls to local Democratic leaders, and pledged to reduce the 3,000 federal agents deployed to Minneapolis in recent weeks. An unspecified number of the federal agents are expected to leave the city soon.And Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who was seen hurling tear gas cannisters at protesters and dressed in a long coat that many compared to Nazi garb, has been reassigned away from the northern city.But local residents worry that’s not enough to keep Minneapolis safe.For starters, Trump has not disavowed the methods that federal immigration agents have relied on, and the Department of Homeland Security remains the lead agency on the investigation into Pretti’s death. “I have zero confidence in them,” McLaughlin told AFP. “To obtain an independent investigation, the people have to demand it by taking to the streets.” He’s not alone. Jay Taylor touches a whistle he wears around his neck to signal the presence of federal agents as he makes a pledge.”We’re going to kick them out of the city. We’re going to win, because we’re standing for the truth,” the 44-year-old told AFP.The recent tragedies and public outpouring of emotion reminded him of the reaction to George Floyd’s spring 2020 murder by a police officer in Minneapolis.”This time, it happened during winter, so there’s not as many people in the streets,” Taylor said. “Trump got lucky with that one.”

US Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar was targeted during a speech late Tuesday by a man who sprayed an unidentified liquid at her from a syringe before being tackled by security guards, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.The man was led out of the premises as Omar — a frequent target of attacks by President Donald Trump — continued her speech, saying “we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw on us.” The man was taken into custody by Minneapolis police, her office said.The incident took place during a town hall in the US city of Minneapolis, where two American citizens have been killed this month in a violent anti-immigration crackdown with thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, provoking growing unrest.Omar had just finished calling for the Trump administration to reverse its current course when the attack occurred.”ICE cannot be reformed, it cannot be rehabilitated. We must abolish ICE for good,” Omar said, to applause. “And (Department of Homeland Security) Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.”After Omar uttered those words, a man sprang up from the front row, made a remark and sprayed the congresswoman, as security leapt to grab him. Omar raised a fist and stepped toward the attacker before returning to the podium. After uttering a few expletives, and against her team’s vocal concerns that she should not continue, the congresswoman took the microphone.”Here’s the reality that people like this ugly man don’t understand: We are Minnesota strong. And we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw on us,” Omar said.Earlier Tuesday, Trump blasted Omar and Somalia during a speech in Iowa, saying the Mogadishu-born congresswoman “comes from a country that’s a disaster.”Trump has ordered 143 strikes against Somalia in his second term, according to US think tank New America, and has pulled back diplomatic relations, including recently stopping humanitarian aid.

A life-threatening freeze is gripping large swaths of the United States after a monster storm caused at least 38 deaths from the Deep South to the Northeast, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and sent air travel into chaos.Another Arctic blast expected this weekend could deliver fresh misery for more than 100 million Americans, with record low temperatures and another major storm threatening — even as municipalities are digging out from deep piles of snow and ice.Here’s what to know.- Dozens dead -The storm was linked to more than three dozen deaths, according to a compilation of state government and local media reports, with causes including hypothermia as well as accidents related to traffic, sledding, all-terrain vehicles and snowplows.Three Texas siblings age six to nine died Monday after falling through ice on a pond north of Dallas, authorities said.The storm toll is expected to climb after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday at least 10 New Yorkers who died had been found outdoors in extreme cold, though whether all the deaths were from hypothermia has yet to be determined.In Bangor, Maine, seven people were killed when a small plane crashed while attempting to take off during a snowstorm, the Federal Aviation Administration said.Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana were badly impacted by power outages, with nearly half a million homes and businesses still without electricity as of Tuesday night, according to tracking site Poweroutage.com.Air travel was also severely disrupted. More than 24,500 US flights, a staggering number, were canceled between Saturday and Tuesday as the storm paralyzed transportation across the country, according to website FlightAware.- Heavy snowfall – The heaviest snowfall of 31 inches (79 centimeters) occurred in Bonito Falls, New Mexico on the western edge of the colossal storm — followed by East Napanoch in upstate New York, where 30 inches fell, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). In Boston, residents were digging out Tuesday after the Massachusetts metropolis got walloped by more than 23 inches of snow.Many of the hardest-hit areas were in the South, where authorities are less accustomed — and often less equipped — to deal with severe winter weather.In the Gulf Coast state of Mississippi, for example, several towns were covered in thick and treacherous ice which downed power lines and trees, and made roads impassable.- More to come -The NWS warns that much of the northern half of the country will remain continuously below freezing through February 1, with another blast of Arctic air expected to bring “the coldest temperature seen in several years for some places and the longest duration of cold in decades.”It said regions as far south as Florida should prepare for “hard freezes.”At the same time, a potentially significant winter storm could spill out of Canada along the East Coast, spreading widespread precipitation as a low-pressure system collides with frigid air. Forecasters say it is still too early to determine the storm’s exact track, or whether it will fall as rain or snow.- Climate change -It may sound counterintuitive, but a growing body of research suggests climate change could be playing a role in disruptions to the polar vortex — a vast region of cold, low-pressure air that normally circulates high above the Arctic.Scientists advancing this theory argue that uneven Arctic warming across Europe and Asia can amplify large atmospheric waves, making it more likely for the polar vortex to wobble and spill south over North America.The science, however, remains contested, and researchers caution that natural climate variability also plays a role.