Thousands of people staged marches, demonstrations and vigils Saturday to protest the recent shooting deaths of a Minneapolis woman and a Northridge man by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
A National Day of Action protest that started at 2 p.m. Saturday in Pershing Square downtown was a dual rally against the Trump administration intervention in Venezuela and the shooting death of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota.
Protesters marched through the downtown area to City Hall and past the Edward Royball Federal Building. It led to the closure of streets in the area, including Alameda, Temple and Aliso streets.
The Los Angeles Police Department issued a dispersal order about 6:30 p.m. for Alameda Street from Aliso to Temple streets, and a police skirmish line moved a group of demonstrators south on Alameda to Temple.
One suspect was detained for suspicion of battery on a police officer, the LAPD stated. The suspect had fled from the original incident, then returned.
KCAL reported others were detained as well during efforts to break up the crowd.
Other demonstrations were held around Southern California, including Long Beach, Woodland Hills and Pasadena.
As the downtown L.A. protest wound down, relatives of a man who was fatally shot by an off-duty ICE agent in Northridge on New Year’s Eve and civil rights advocates held a candlelight vigil in his memory in Carson that also honored the life of Renee Good.
Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic Hope and one of the vigil’s organizers, said the shootings of Renee Good on Wednesday and Keith Porter Jr. on New Year’s Eve “are not isolated incidents.
“They reflect a dangerous pattern of excessive force, poor judgment and a lack of accountability that is costing innocent people their lives,” Ali said in a statement. “We are coming together to mourn, to demand truth and to call for justice.”
The vigil was also organized by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE Justice), which bills itself as bringing “together clergy and lay leaders of all faiths with the marginalized, the unheard and the least protected — low-wage workers and immigrants — in strategic campaigns for dignity, justice, and a more sacred and just society.”
Good, 37, was killed by an ICE agent who fired into her moving Honda Pilot SUV during an immigration operation.
The events leading up to the shooting are in dispute.
“This latest footage corroborates what DHS has stated all along,” Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, wrote on social media Friday. “This individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle against @ICEgov.
“The officer dutifully acted in self-defense.”
According to The New York Times, “When agents approached her SUV on foot and demanded that she get out, Ms. Good disobeyed and began to drive away. A video analysis showed that Ms. Good’s vehicle appeared to be turning away from the officer who opened fire.”
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles County, wrote on social media, “Federal agents are justified in using deadly force to defend their lives. A vehicle is considered a deadly weapon. Do not drive at an officer. It’s dangerous and you will also be charged with a felony.”
Porter, 43, was fatally shot shortly after 11:30 p.m. Dec. 31 in the 17700 block of Roscoe Boulevard, near White Oak Avenue, by an unidentified ICE agent. The DHS issued a statement saying the agent “bravely responded to an active shooter situation” and “exchanged gunfire with” Porter.
Local activists, however, said Porter was not an active shooter, although he was firing a weapon into the air to celebrate New Year’s Eve — a practice routinely condemned by law enforcement officials.
During Friday’s Los Angeles City Council meeting, Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez introduced Porter’s mother, Franceola Armstrong, who described her son as a man with a wonderful soul and big heart.
“He didn’t deserve this,” Armstrong said. “He was on his way back. He didn’t even get to pop the Champagne. He didn’t get to say goodbye. I just want to touch my baby one last time, kiss his face and hold him. I don’t have him. His life was snatched from us. Lord, please, I just wish you could get justice for my child.”
Porter’s family has created a GoFundMe page to support his two surviving daughters, along with a college fund, at gofund.me/c452ce740?sfnsn=mo.
Always wait for investigation and report. Just another Floyd case tried by the Chinese owned media.
Prayers for the officer and family been put through hell by media and the video shows she was going to hit the officer with her vehicle. Prayers for her family, but she was the cause of her death. Never interfere with any agent doing their job.
You had your say. Having said that, your comment about not interfering with any agent doing their job, holds no water, you’re practically saying that the agent was correct in the way he handled the situation. Nobody but Nobody has the right to end a person’s very life,simply by performing his or her job. Never mind how important that job happens to be.