The World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined bishops in the United States in urging for restraint in the wake of a second fatal shooting by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minnesota.

In a statement, the WCC’s general secretary Rev Jerry Pillay said he was “deeply alarmed by the escalating violence” in areas patrolled by ICE agents and added that the “justification of these killings by the US federal authorities and administration without any proper investigation certainly does not help the situation nor encourage federal agents to exercise restraint and caution to preserve human lives and peace.”

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse was shot dead on Saturday in Minneapolis after an incident with federal agents. The shooting came less than three weeks after the fatal shooting by ICE agents of a Christian mother, 37-year-old Renee Good, also in Minneapolis. 

The WCC said the killings had occurred “in circumstances that any right-thinking person who has watched the video recordings of those events must surely recognize as requiring independent investigation and full accountability for any crimes that may have been committed.”

Most Rev Bernard Hebda,  Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, also released a statement in which he asked people, “to ask what we can do to restore the Lord’s peace”. The leader of the US Bishops' Conference Archbishop Paul Coakley also called for “calm, restraint, and respect for human life in Minneapolis, and all those places where peace is threatened.”

On Friday about 100 clergy members were arrested at Minneapolis airport while holding a protest calling on US airlines to refuse to transport detainees arrested by ICE.

Concluding its statement, the WCC said it stands with "the church and religious community leaders and all those who are demanding an end to the violence, justice for the victims, and respect for the God-given and inalienable human dignity and rights of every human being in the United States of America, and around the world."