The latest fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday has triggered a public disagreement among senior leaders at venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.
Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, wrote in a post on X on Saturday that “no law enforcement has shot an innocent person” and that “illegals are committing violent crimes every day.”
This was in response to another X post that questioned whether federal agents or “illegal immigrants” had shot more people in Minneapolis in recent months.
The founder of Khosla Ventures, Vinod Khosla, backed one of the company’s partners, Ethan Choi, who had replied on X to Rabois’ post saying: “I want to make it clear that Keith doesn’t represent everyone’s views here at @khoslaventures, at least not mine.”
“What happened in Minnesota is plain wrong. Don’t know how you could really see it differently. Sad to see a person’s life taken unnecessarily,” Choi added.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
The Khosla founder wrote on X on Monday that he agreed with Choi, adding:
“Macho ICE vigilantes running amuck empowered by a conscious-less administration. The video was sickening to watch and the storytelling without facts or with invented fictitious facts by authorities almost unimaginable in a civilized society. ICE personnel must have ice water running thru their veins to treat other human beings this way. There is politics but humanity should transcend that.”
This comes amid a wave of reactions from business and tech leaders on social media to the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents.
Jeff Dean, Google DeepMind’s chief scientist, described the shooting as “absolutely shameful” in a post on X.
In a post on X on Sunday, investor and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis blamed the country’s political leaders.
“Once again, I will remind everyone that our leaders are failing us,” he wrote. “True leadership would be to calm this situation down by telling these non-peaceful protesters to stay home while recalling these inadequately-trained agents.”
Keith Rabois has served on the boards of several companies, including Reddit and Yelp. He’s also the cofounder and chairman of Opendoor Technologies.
Rabois, Koshla, and Choi could not be reached for immediate comment.
