Violence interrupter who made threatening statements to City Council could get new contract

The Rev. Jerry McAfee, the north Minneapolis pastor who made threatening statements last month to Minneapolis City Council members, could get a new one-year city contract of nearly $650,000 to interrupt violence.

The situation became more complicated Friday when one of McAfee’s 21 Days of Peace violence interrupter workers was arrested for reckless endangerment in connection with an incident Monday in north Minneapolis where he was shot, McAfee told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

According to a police report, the 35-year-old man fired back when he was shot after helping serve a 21 Days of Peace meal near 36th and Penn avenues. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, McAfee said, and struck by bullets after people came out from behind bushes and began shooting at 21 Days of Peace workers.

Violence interrupters working for the city aren’t allowed to be armed, McAfee said. But they were working on a state contract, had logged off for the day and the man was carrying a legal firearm, he said. McAfee said he went with him Friday to give police a statement, and the violence interrupter ended up in jail.

“I know he shot back, but let me ask you a question: If somebody is shooting at you, hit you and you got a gun, what you gonna do?” McAfee said.

McAfee interrupted a February council committee meeting and went on a five-minute rant as the council considered temporarily moving some violence prevention programs to Hennepin County.

McAfee, pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, runs nonprofits that have done violence prevention work for years for Minneapolis and other entities. The church won a nearly $306,000 city contract last year to do a “community trauma and de-escalation initiative," and 21 Days of Peace received $3 million from the state in 2023.

McAfee’s Salem Inc. now is on a list of six nonprofits chosen by Neighborhood Safety for violence interruption contracts under a program called MinneapolUS. The one-year contracts come with a two-year renewal option but they must first get City Council approval, which should make for an interesting debate given McAfee’s remarks to the council last month.

During the Feb. 10 council committee meeting, McAfee made threatening statements to Council Member Jason Chavez, who is gay, and accused him of acting like a girl.

“The way you lookin’ at me, if you wanna come behind that podium, you do it. I guarantee, I guarantee you will regret it,” McAfee said.

Chavez later accused the pastor of making “alarming threats and homophobic and sexist remarks.”

When council members suggested he was being homophobic, McAfee scoffed and called them “heterophobes.” McAfee has opposed same-sex marriage in the past.

He challenged the council to “put me out,” but said if they tried to arrest him, his “people” would come.

McAfee suggested in subsequent social media posts that he half expected to be arrested, then doubled down in a Facebook Live post in which he said, “Reverend McAfee ain’t hittin' nobody. I ain’t shot nobody. However, I will if I have to. I don’t want to.”

Council Member Robin Wonsley has said that amounted to a death threat, but Minneapolis police determined no crime had occurred. However, security was beefed up days later when the council voted against moving the programs to Hennepin County.

Wonsley released a statement Friday saying, “The Frey administration has repeatedly assured the Council that conditions within [Neighborhood Safety] are improving. However, actions like this make it clear that the administration is still struggling to effectively manage these once nationally recognized violence prevention services.”

Council Member Jamal Osman said he was “super disappointed” to learn that city officials decided not to select the violence interrupters providing culturally appropriate services in the Cedar-Riverside area and instead work with McAfee.

A Neighborhood Safety official told him crime data doesn’t support it, but Osman said that’s the point: The violence interrupters have helped calm the area and make it safer.

He questioned why McAfee would be chosen, calling it a “really, really horrible decision.”

In a statement to the Star Tribune, Community Safety Commissioner Toddrick Barnette said that while he couldn’t comment on any individual contract, the vendors were selected after being scored under the city’s procurement process.

“Whether or not an individual associated with a group has made comments about elected or appointed officials does not factor into the rigorous review,” Barnette said.