Topline<\/p>\n
The NBA Players Association said it would \u201cstand in solidarity\u201d with protesters in Minnesota after Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday, joining scores of professional athletes<\/a> and other celebrities in condemning the killing.<\/p>\n Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was shot and killed by federal law enforcement agents on Saturday.<\/p>\n Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n \u201cNow more than ever, we must defend the right to freedom of speech,\u201d the union representing professional basketball players said in a statement<\/a> posted on social media, adding that it would \u201crefuse to let the flames of social division threaten the civil liberties that are meant to protect us all.\u201d<\/p>\n The Players Association called Minneapolis \u201ca city on the forefront of the fight against injustices,\u201d alluding to the massive protests after the death of George Floyd in 2020, and quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a post on X: \u201cThere comes a time when silence is betrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n The organization also apologized to Pretti\u2019s family, as well as the family of Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother shot and killed by federal agents earlier in January.<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Saturday by federal law enforcement officers, who were deployed to the city as part of a large Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement operation dubbed Operation Metro Surge. The operation has sparked large protests<\/a> in the Twin Cities area. The Trump administration immediately reacted by blaming Pretti, who was armed, for what chief of Customs and Border Patrol Greg Bovino called \u201cviolently\u201d resisting arrest. \u201cThis looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,\u201d Bovino said on Saturday, but subsequent videos of the shooting have spread doubt as to the timeline of events and contradict the official narrative. The shooting came weeks after Good, a 37-year-old mother, was shot and killed in her car by a federal law enforcement officer.<\/p>\n Further ReadingForbesTrump Blasts Minnesota Democrats As \u2018Inciting Insurrection\u2019 After Man Killed By Border Patrol (Live Updates)By Mike Stunson<\/a>ForbesObama Condemns ICE Tactics In Minnesota\u2014Says Trump Administration Seems \u2018Eager To Escalate The Situation\u2019By Zachary Folk<\/a>ForbesTarget CEO Joins Minnesota Businesses Urging \u2018Deescalation\u2019 After Latest Shooting In MinneapolisBy Zachary Folk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline The NBA Players Association said it would \u201cstand in solidarity\u201d with protesters in Minnesota after Alex Pretti,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[227979,64,63,726,5387,228591,590,85],"class_list":["post-439025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-alex-pretti","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-shooting","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}