SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB: Minneapolis violence interrupter threatens violence to City Council over violence interruption funds.
A prominent north Minneapolis pastor interrupted a Monday Minneapolis City Council committee meeting and made threatening statements, then doubled down in a Facebook Live video posted Tuesday night.
The Rev. Jerry McAfee — whose nonprofit has done violence prevention work for years — brought a council committee meeting to a halt Monday when he interrupted the meeting and went on a five-minute rant about the council considering temporarily moving some violence prevention programs to Hennepin County.
In a statement released Wednesday night, Minneapolis police said the department had met with council leadership as well as McAfee.
“No crime has occurred; however, we are working with building security to ensure everyone’s safety,” according to Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten.
* * * * * * * *
When Chavez asked if he was threatening them, McAfee said, “I don’t make threats, I make promises.”
He challenged the council to “put me out” but said if they tried to arrest him, his “people” would come.
As he left the meeting room, he told the council members, “I’ll see you again; that’s a promise.”
After he left the meeting, he told the Star Tribune that the council was trying to move funding to the county to steer funding to people who had gotten it in the past. He scoffed at the council suggesting he threatened them, calling it “childish foolishness.”
McAfee suggested in subsequent social media posts that he half expected to be arrested. He doubled down in a Facebook Live post Tuesday night, in which he said “Rev. McAfee ain’t hittin’ nobody. I ain’t shot nobody. However I will if I have to. I don’t want to.”
After posting those remarks, Council Member Robin Wonsley sent a note to her constituents in which she said of McAfee: “This individual has now publicly made death threats.”
And to think Tim Walz promised to deliver all of this Minnesota Nice to the rest of America last year.