Within minutes of Alex Pretti being shot and killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, the Trump administration, along with right-wing influencers, launched a smear campaign against him, branding him a “terrorist” and a “lunatic.” Pretti, 37, was killed during a confrontation with several federal immigration agents. He was a registered nurse and an American citizen who worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a colleague who spoke to the Guardian. Bystander video shows that Pretti was trying to help a woman who had been pepper sprayed by an immigration agent when officers tackled him.
This incident occurred just 17 days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, who was also 37 at the time of her death.
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara stated at a press conference on Saturday that details leading up to Pretti’s fatal encounter were limited. However, at a different press briefing, Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander overseeing operations in Minneapolis, claimed to have a complete understanding of the events. Bovino alleged that Pretti approached officers with a 9mm handgun, resisted being disarmed, and was shot in what he described as a clear act of self-defense. He claimed Pretti had two loaded magazines and no identification, and suggested that Pretti intended to “massacre law enforcement,” while emphasizing that the Border Patrol agent who shot Pretti had extensive training.
The Department of Homeland Security backed Bovino’s assertions in a post on X, which has amassed over 17 million views at the time of publication. This narrative was echoed by right-wing outlets, including the Post Millenial, which published an article titled: “Armed agitator Alex Pretti appeared to want ‘maximum damage’ and to ‘massacre’ law enforcement when shot by BP in Minnesota.”
However, key aspects of these claims are contradicted by publicly available evidence. Multiple videos shared on social media shortly after the incident show no indication that Pretti’s gun was visible when officers approached him. Analyses by The New York Times and Bellingcat indicate that Pretti was clearly holding a phone, not a gun, when the federal agents confronted him and brought him to the ground.
On Truth Social, former President Donald Trump criticized Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. “The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric,” Trump wrote in a post that included an image of a gun that DHS claimed Pretti was holding at the time of the shooting.
Vice President JD Vance supported Trump’s denunciation of local leadership, sharing a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post and writing on X: “When I visited Minnesota, what the ICE agents wanted more than anything was to work with local law enforcement so that situations on the ground didn’t get out of hand. The local leadership in Minnesota has so far refused to answer those requests.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also took to X to criticize Frey and Walz, as well as to disparage the victim: “Shame on the leadership of Minnesota — and the lunatics in the street. ICE > MN.”
In response, Walz referred to the federal narrative as “nonsense” during a press conference. “Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word” on Pretti’s killing, he said, adding that “the federal government cannot be trusted with this investigation.”
