A group of Pamlico residents gathered outside the Oriental Post Office on Monday afternoon to protest the shooting death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by ICE agents Saturday in Minneapolis. 

Pretti, an ICU nurse at a veterans hospital, was the second person fatally shot by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis this year. Renee Good, also 37, was shot to death by an ICE agent Jan. 7. 

About 15 Pamlico protesters showed up with handwritten signs. Organizer Bruce Perkins said a handful of people stopped to object to the protest.

“There’s been pushback,” Perkins said. “A couple people wanted to argue with us and disagree with everything we're doing, and we just don't argue back. I mean, you know, everybody has a right to say what they want.”

“I'm a retired cop from the West Coast,” Perkins said. “And I know the tactics. I know the training involved. I used to be the department supervisor for training.”

Perkins said what he’s seen in the news about ICE is abhorrent. “What really concerns me, besides what it's doing to the citizens, is what ICE is doing to civil law enforcement, city, county, and state officers, who are, in the 50 states, for the most part, very well trained, and they know exactly what they can and cannot do,” he said. “They have taken years to gain the respect and the cooperation from, specifically, minority communities in which they live. And ICE has come in, and basically, they are completely tearing that down.”

Federal immigration agents have been in Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge since early December. Before that, ICE had been stationed in Chicago starting Sept. 9 as part of Operation Midway Blitz.

When asked how ICE tactics line up with accepted training protocols, Perkins said, “What ICE does, it doesn't (line up). And you can talk to any experienced law enforcement officer, current or retired, and they'll tell you the same thing. That's not the way we were trained.”

Protester Laurie Stallman referred to ICE actions as terror. “I'm here because I don't want to see terror normalized in our country,” she said. “And I think that the situation in Minneapolis with American citizens being shot in broad daylight is too much.”

Steve Elbert, who was protesting alongside Stallman, said: “I’m just exercising my First Amendment rights.”

Perkins explained the selection of the protest site and time. “I picked this time, because I figured at this location, people going to lunch and then leaving lunch, we'd have more visibility,” he said. “We're going to do it again, probably when the weather gets better. But since the last homicide occurred on Saturday, I wanted to get on it as quickly as possible, because it's fresh in people's minds.”

Protester Richard Johnson said he was compelled to attend the protest. “I don't think any of us actually want to be here,” he said. “We just feel like we have to be.”