The city of Minneapolis withdrew its request that a controversial pastor’s nonprofit get a nearly $650,000 violence prevention contract on the same day two violence interrupters who have worked for the pastor were charged with multiple felonies in a shootout after a community barbecue last week.
The Rev. Jerry McAfee’s nonprofit, Salem Inc., was among six entities chosen by the city’s Neighborhood Safety department to be awarded violence interruption contracts under a program called MinneapolUS.
Salem Inc. was slated to be considered Monday afternoon by a Minneapolis City Council committee for one-year contracts, with a two-year renewal option, when city officials suddenly changed course.
Then came more news late Friday that some of McAfee’s employees were involved in the north Minneapolis shootout. Several community groups scheduled a newconference Monday morning to oppose the new contract, and some council members released statements of dismay.
Public safety commissioner Todd Barnette defended the decision Friday, saying public comments don’t factor into the selection process. But by Monday morning, Neighborhood Safety department officials were withdrawing the request for action on all of the contracts, saying they’d likely submit a new one on March 25 that will not include Salem Inc.
Jared Jeffries, chief of staff for the Office of Community Safety, told a council committee Monday that the office was “reviewing events that have occurred” since the violence interruption proposals were evaluated, but refused to elaborate, saying “the data is non-public.”
70 shots reported
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Monday afternoon, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Kashmir Khaliffa McReynolds and Alvin Anthony Watkins Jr. with multiple felonies after a backyard cookout in north Minneapolis erupted in gunfire.