Minneapolis shooting: parents of Alex Pretti say Trump officials are telling ‘sickening lies’ | Minneapolis
Key events
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on Trump administration officials to justify themselves Alex PrettiHe was killed by federal agents because he was in legal possession of a gun.
Criticizing the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi NoemOcasio-Cortez alluded to broad conservative support for Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, about six years ago during protests for racial justice.
Ocasio-Cortez said:
As she says showing up at the scene of a protest with a weapon in legal possession should be grounds for death, execution by the state, by the same party and the same administration that praises Kyle Rittenhouse.
Earlier on Saturday, Noem said:
I don’t know of any peaceful protesters who show up with a gun and ammo rather than a sign. It’s a violent riot. We have someone showing up with weapons and using them to attack law enforcement.
There is no indication that Pretti intended to attack law enforcement. Video of the incident also shows that the shooting of Pretti was an act of self-defense.
A top Republican senator said the credibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security was at stake after the events in Minneapolis and called for a full investigation.
Bill Cassidy from Louisiana posted on X:
The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS is at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people to tell them the truth.
Following the last message, dear actress Natalie Portman became emotional while describing her feelings during a “horrible day.”
“What’s happening in our country is just obscene,” she said in Park City, where she was promoting the film The Gallerist.
What Asset And [homeland security secretary] Kristi Noem and ICE are doing to our citizens and undocumented people is outrageous and must stop.
Hollywood stars took advantage of their appearances on the red carpet at the Sundance Film Festival to denounce the murder of an American. Alex Pretti after his fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Actor and director Olivia Wilde said Saturday that the death of a second protester in just three weeks at the hands of federal agents was “unfathomable,” Agence France-Presse reported.
“I can’t believe we’re seeing people being murdered in the street,” she said.
These brave Americans who came out to protest the injustice of these quote-unquote ICE “officers” and watch them get murdered – it’s unfathomable. We cannot normalize it.
Wilde – who wore an “ICE OUT” badge and was in Park City, Utah, for the premiere of the film The Invite – said the US government’s violence against people exercising their right to free speech was “un-American”.
We may have a government that is somehow trying to make excuses and legitimize it, but we [Americans] don’t do it.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the outcry across the United States following the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti, 37, by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, the second such killing in less than three weeks.
Pretti’s family released a statement Saturday evening saying they were “heartbroken but also very angry” after Donald Trump and his officials called Pretti a “shooter” who approached U.S. Border Patrol agents.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when he is attacked by Trump’s murderers 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 took down while being pepper-sprayed,” the family’s statement said. “Please let the truth be known about our son. He was a good man.”
Two witnesses to the killing testified under oath that the intensive care nurse was not brandishing a weapon when he spoke to federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. A witness, who filmed the shooting just behind Pretti, said federal agents attacked him after he came to help someone they had pushed to the ground.
Footage from the scene supports the claim that Pretti was holding a phone, not a gun, when he was tackled and shot.
In the aftermath of the killing, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an image of a handgun, which Donald Trump called “the shooter’s weapon” in a social media post. Kristi Noem, DHS Secretary, said during a press briefing that Pretti “approached U.S. Border Patrol agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.” Greg Bovino, a senior commander with the Border Patrol, said, “This seems like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” »
Here are some of the latest developments:
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Eric Tostrud, federal judge in Minnesota ordered federal agencies to preserve evidence related to Pretti’s death. Tostrud’s decision marked a response to the lawsuit Minnesota officials filed Saturday, alleging that federal officials were obstructing investigative efforts.
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Thousands of protesters gathered in cities including Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Boston and Providence, Rhode Island.. They braved the extreme cold to shout slogans such as: “Say it once, say it twice, we won’t stand for ICE!” »
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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said his party would block a funding plan next week. if it included money for DHS, the department responsible for ICE. “What is happening in Minnesota is appalling – and unacceptable in any American city,” the New York senator said. “Democrats sought common-sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully insufficient to curb ICE abuses. I will vote no.”
