MINNEAPOLIS: The snow-lined street in the midwestern city of Minneapolis where Renee Nicole Good was gunned down by an immigration agent on Wednesday lies less than a mile from the site of another slaying that shook Americans.
In 2020, George Floyd was killed by a police officer in the same neighbourhood, sparking a wave of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests here and across the country, as the United States examined bias in law enforcement and generations of fractured race relations.
But some now fear the act of protest itself, saying it has grown more dangerous under the Trump administration.
"I'd like to, but it's scary, you don't want to get shot in the face", 26-year-old Grace said, adding: "I'm not surprised that they shot and killed someone here".
"I went to a protest before Christmas and I was very scared about even going to that, even before anyone was shot".
Grace said she joined BLM protests in the past and feared being tracked by the government then, but those concerns have grown "under this administration, where Trump just relentlessly pursues anyone in contrast to him".
What's worse, some comments online "are horrific, people saying she deserved it", Grace said. "I don't know how we're going to come back from this as a country".
Like many Minneapolis natives, 36-year-old Anthony Emanuel was deeply shaken when George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by a white police officer who knelt on his neck.
Floyd's dying words — "I can't breathe" — were chanted at protests across the country and Emanuel took part.
But Emanuel, who works as a ride-share driver, is uncertain about protesting this time.
"I think people are just tired. And I think people are tired and still figuring it out, still going to work... still behind on bills", Emanuel said, citing political and financial pressures that only grow in hard economic times. — AFP
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