Rhiannon Ingle
A US Border Patrol officer shot and killed a 37-year-old man in Minnesota on Saturday (24 January), just weeks after ICE agents fatally shot mother-of-three Renee Good while behind the wheel of her car.
Family members identified the man who was killed as Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, who protested President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city.
He was shot just over a mile from where an ICE officer killed Good, also 37, on January 7, sparking widespread protests.
The officer who shot Pretti is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials said.
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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that federal officers were conducting an operation and fired 'defensive shots', after a man with a handgun approached them and 'violently resisted' when they tried to disarm him.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference that Pretti had shown up to 'impede a law enforcement operation', questioning why he was armed but did not offer details about whether Pretti drew the weapon or brandished it at officers.
However, several bystander videos of the shooting emerged soon afterwards, showing Pretti with a phone in his hand, but none appear to show him with a visible weapon.
One bystander video obtained by The Associated Press is understood to show at least seven officers surrounding the man before shots are heard and the officers back away.
Some of the footage shows the ICU nurse being forced to the floor after protecting a woman from ICE agents, pepper-sprayed and then shot more than 10 times within just a few seconds.
Mr Pretti’s family released a statement on Saturday evening saying they are 'heartbroken but also very angry', calling him a kindhearted soul who wanted to make a difference in the world through his work as a nurse.
The statement said: "The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting.
"Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. "He has his phone in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper-sprayed.
"Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man."
The 79-year-old president took to Truth Social on Saturday to share a statement following the shooting.
Sharing a photo of the gun that immigration officials said was recovered, he wrote: "This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — Not an easy thing to do!"
He went on to claim: "Much of what you’re witnessing is a COVER UP for this Theft and Fraud. The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric! Instead, these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States of America.
"LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB! 12,000 Illegal Alien Criminals, many of them violent, have been arrested and taken out of Minnesota. If they were still there, you would see something far worse than you are witnessing today!"
Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have since spoken out on the matter, along with many other celebrities, including Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, Olivia Wilde, Natalie Portman, Pedro Pascal, and Mark Ruffalo.
A US federal judge is due to hear arguments on whether she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.
The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Good was shot by an ICE officer.
The hearing is set for Monday morning (26 January) in a federal court in Minneapolis.