As Minneapolis weighs what to do with two street memorials for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, city officials said the immediate focus remains on public access for grieving while maintaining safe passage for emergency vehicles. The memorials have continued to attract visitors and new offerings since both were killed by federal agents in January, and they are now part of a broader local debate about how the city should handle public mourning sites.
A memorial for Good appeared quickly after she was fatally shot on Jan. 7 on a Minneapolis street. The memorial grew into a mound of flowers, signs and artwork at the location, and people have held candlelight vigils there, with regular visitors continuing to stop by. The adjacent residential street remains open, but orange traffic cones create a narrower walkway for those paying their respects, and a small band of volunteers oversees the site.
A memorial for Pretti formed even faster, with protest-style offerings appearing before the smell of tear gas used by federal agents had dissipated after his killing on Jan. 24. Along a commercial district known as “Eat Street,” protesters and later visitors placed branches, police tape and candles, and people later added crosses, stuffed animals, American flags, and images of Pretti. Jess Olstad, a spokesperson for the city of Minneapolis, said traffic lanes were temporarily shifted and parking was closed off around the memorial area to accommodate access and safety.
Olstad said the city’s priority is to “give our community space to grieve and heal,” while also ensuring emergency vehicles can reach other parts of the city and protecting visitors at the memorials. The city spokesperson also said Minneapolis is “actively working on next steps, including continued community engagement regarding both memorials.”
Residents who visited the memorials described them as a form of solidarity amid grief and anger. Minnesota resident Karel Hoffmann said the memorials reflected community unity even as she remained “outraged” by the killings, describing it as a shared effort to “be together.” Lynn Elrod, a nurse, said she added items to the Pretti memorial, including a plastic evergreen tree with red hearts and portraits of Pretti and Good, describing the display as a way to show “the love that we have for both of them” and “their contributions to the community and supporting their neighbors.”
City officials also pointed to the timeline involved in making a memorial permanent. Ally Peters, a spokesperson for Mayor Jacob Frey, said last week that it was “too early” to comment on whether the memorials would be made permanent, signaling that the next decision will likely follow further discussions with residents and community stakeholders.
The memorials in Minneapolis echo the community-driven effort to commemorate George Floyd, who was killed in 2020 by a police officer less than a mile from the site where Good was shot. Minneapolis took more than five years to develop an official memorial for George Floyd Square, and construction is set to begin this year—an extended process that officials now appear to be drawing lessons from as they confront two new, prominent street memorials.