Northeast Minneapolis resident Leon Virden suffered a fractured jaw after being struck by fragments from a flashbang grenade during a protest following the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in South Minneapolis. Doctors installed three plates and placed 15 stitches along his jawline. Wires and bands fill his mouth to hold everything in place. (Mike Madison)
Leon Virden was walking down an alleyway adjacent to Nicollet Avenue in South Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, when a tear gas canister came sailing at the people walking in the alley.
It was just a few hours after federal agents had killed Alex Pretti in front of a donut shop on Nicollet.
“A guy next to me tried to kick the canister back at the ICE guys, but he missed it. I stepped around the dumpster, I think I was going to try kicking it too.”
Before he could do anything, a flashbang grenade landed a few feet from Virden, who lives on 32nd and Pierce Street NE. “My son yelled, ‘Get back, dad.’ But it was too late.”
The device exploded, resulting in a blinding flash and an intensely loud bang. It also kicked up a fragment that hit Virden in the side of the head, leaving a small hole just below his ear and shattering his jaw.
“I was seriously hit with something. I had no idea what it was. I just remember the ‘boom.’ It was so fast. I was dazed and confused. I hurt.”
Virden staggered, but didn’t go down. His son grabbed him and helped him to the car, and he was brought home. Another son’s wife, a nurse, took one look at Virden and said he was going to the hospital.
At the emergency room, doctors administered a CT scan and found Virden’s jaw was in pieces. They did surgery immediately, installing three plates into his jaw to hold it together. They had to put the plates in from the outside, leaving a line of 15 stitches down his jawline. His mouth is filled with wires and bands to hold everything together.
Virden’s wife, Mary, said, “He’s one tough old man.”
Virden, 73, shook his head. “I’m just an ordinary Northeast guy.”
(Mike Madison)
Protesting in Minneapolis
Virden admits this isn’t his first rodeo. He also protested during the Vietnam War, even though three of his brothers were combat veterans of the war. He said there were some brushes with police in those days too.
On the morning of Jan. 24, he got a call from one of his sons that a man had been killed in his South Minneapolis neighborhood. “I said that if my sons were going to be there, I would too,” Virden said.
One of his sons had already been pepper sprayed directly into his face by an ICE agent that morning as a large group of people had gathered near the scene of the Pretti shooting.
“They had blocked off Nicollet Avenue and so we were walking up an alley. You could hear the explosions and smell the gas. Where we were, nobody was advancing on the ICE people. There was a vacant lot between us and ICE. It was very peaceful. There may have been some people chanting. Nobody was doing anything aggressive. Nobody was moving toward them.”
Virden said he has no clue why the ICE agents fired off the tear gas and the flashbang device at the people in the alley. “I’m not naïve. I knew what could happen if you got too close to ICE.”
He said he has been proud of how Minneapolis people have reacted to federal surge of law enforcement personnel. “This whole ICE thing, I call them the agents of the anti-Christ. I can’t believe there are Christian people sticking up for this. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Minneapolis is a great big beautiful community. Everybody can live in peace. I’m happy to see the solidarity. It’s just sending a message to the DHS: Go home, we don’t want you here. We love our neighbors.”
From Southeast to Northeast
Virden was one of eight children raised by two blind parents in Southeast Minneapolis. The family was poor. He went to Marshall High School.
“I always figured I was going to spend my life in the service — 30 years in the service. But then Vietnam happened and it didn’t seem right.”
He has worked a variety of jobs through the years including cook and work in a dog food factory. He and Mary ran a licensed day-care in their home for seven years.
Virden’s son, Ryan, recently published a book called “Breaking the Privilege Frame,” exploring the dynamics of race and privilege. Ryan said the book came from his background as a Minneapolis teacher, and also “from the wisdom I got from my parents.”
Leon Virden hopes the protesting in Minneapolis will help the nation come to grips with the ICE activity around the country.
Would he go back to protest? “I wanted to go this morning. I’d be smarter this time around, but they need to be told that what they’re doing ain’t going to happen here. What happened to me is a small price to pay.
“We have to stand up to this. Truth to power. We can make a difference. All around the country people are looking at all these Minnesotans standing up for their neighbors.”