MINNEAPOLIS – Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara is defending a prominent north Minneapolis pastor who made threatening, homophobic statements directed at the Minneapolis City Council last month, even though he has city violence prevention contracts.
The Rev. Jerry McAfee is pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church and operates nonprofits that for years have done violence prevention work for the city, downtown improvement district and state. He’s been under fire for his actions last month during a council meeting, which he interrupted and went on a 5-minute rant that many viewed as threatening and homophobic.
Exacerbating the situation, on Monday, two of his 21 Days of Peace workers were charged with multiple felonies in connection with a March 10 shootout in north Minneapolis after a community barbecue. Later Monday, the city’s Neighborhood Safety department withdrew its recommendation to the council that another one of McAfee’s nonprofits, Salem Inc., get a nearly $650,000 violence prevention contract…