TAMPA, Fla. — Protests broke out across the country this weekend following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Minneapolis, which has become the epicenter of growing calls to dismantle ICE. Similar protests were held in Chicago and outside the White House in Washington, D.C., as activists demanded accountability and justice in the wake of the shooting.
Demonstrations also took place in Tampa Bay, with protesters gathering in both Tampa and St. Petersburg. In Tampa, dozens of people assembled outside City Hall holding signs reading “Stop ICE for good” and “Insatiable Cruel Enforcers.”
Several organizations, including Voices of Florida Fund and Elevate Through Respect, organized the Tampa demonstration, calling for the immediate removal of ICE and an end to what they describe as a pattern of unchecked violence by federal agencies.
Organizers said the shooting is part of a broader national issue involving the use of force by federal law enforcement and argue that more oversight is needed.
One protester, Kimberly Pullen, said watching video of the shooting was deeply disturbing.
“It was traumatizing, and not in the way the incident with Charlie Kirk was,” Pullen said. “This was a very different type of horrifying. The most horrifying part was that she was in front of her own home.”
Pullen said the hardest part of the tragedy has been the deafening silence.
"I feel like the most frustrating part for me is the silence," Pullen said. "It's that we have to go through every single day, going to work and taking care of our kids and worrying about our kids, while it seems like the world is just moving on and nobody's paying attention. And I've said it many times to friends and colleagues, but the silence itself is deafening to me, and people should be angrier than they are."
Organizers tell Tampa Bay 28 News that additional protests are planned later this week as calls for accountability continue to grow nationwide.
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