ICU nurse identified as man fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis

Washington: A 37-year-old American citizen has been shot dead by federal agents in the US city of Minneapolis, less than three weeks after Renee Good was killed there by an immigration enforcement agent, which triggered a national outcry.

Video published by local media showed federal agents wrestling the man to the ground on a Minneapolis street before several gunshots were fired, and the man stopped moving. There was no context to the footage.

The victim was later identified by his family as Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis who was born in Illinois.

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” Michael Pretti, Alex’s father, told Associated Press. “He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others.”

In a statement, the federal Department of Homeland Security said the man was carrying a 9mm semi-automatic handgun when he approached officers.

“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted. More details on the armed struggle are forthcoming,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.

“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.”

McLaughlin said the man approached Border Patrol officers as they were conducting a targeted operation against an illegal immigrant wanted for violent assault. She said he was carrying two magazines of ammunition and no identification.

However, footage of the incident appears to show Pretti holding a phone, not a gun. While DHS said he approached officers “with” a weapon, they did not say whether he was brandishing it at the time he was killed.

Asked for clarification at a news conference, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said an investigation would probe the details. He claimed it “looked like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”.

Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said the man was a licensed gun owner with a permit to carry and had no criminal record other than traffic infringements.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the footage of the incident clearly showed more than six masked agents “pummelling one of our constituents, shooting him to death”.

He pleaded with US President Donald Trump to end ICE’s special enforcement operation in Minneapolis, saying a great American city was being “invaded by its own federal government”.

“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Frey said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he spoke with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles following the shooting and demanded she withdraw ICE from the state. The state must conduct the investigation, he told her.

“Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word on this. It must have the last word on this,” Walz said. “The federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation. The state will handle it, period.”

Walz said he had seen the “sickening” video from several angles. “It’s a campaign of organised brutality against our state,” he said. “This needs to be the event that says: enough.”

Protesters and federal agents continued to clash on the city’s frosty streets following the shooting. Live footage being broadcast on US television showed officers repeatedly firing tear gas at demonstrators, who were chanting “shame” and yelling “f— ICE”.

O’Hara said the protests had been deemed an unauthorised gathering and people should go home. Local police were dispatched to the scene.

Tensions have been high since ICE began a major enforcement operation in Minneapolis weeks ago and were turbocharged by the killing of Good on January 7.

In that case, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said within hours of the shooting that Good was participating in “domestic terrorism” and that the ICE agent shot her in self-defence despite footage casting doubt on that narrative.

Responses to Saturday’s shooting indicated the same narrative was likely to play out. In remarks on X, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the dead man a “domestic terrorist” and “would-be assassin”, and accused the Democrats of “fanning the flames of insurrection for the singular purpose of stopping the deportation of illegals who invaded the country”.

In a lengthy social media post, Trump posted a photo of the gun that allegedly belonged to the deceased man, blaming Walz and Frey for inciting insurrection with “pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric”.

“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,” Trump said, referring to alleged welfare fraud by migrants in the state. “LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB!”

Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, said Trump and the Republican Party were trying to gaslight the nation.

“Trust your eyes. Not extremist lies. The video exposing the brutal slaying of VA nurse Alex Pretti speaks for itself,” Jeffries said.

“Masked and lawless DHS agents have brutally killed another American citizen in Minneapolis. Donald Trump’s extremists have unleashed this carnage on the streets of America. They must all be held criminally accountable to the full extent of the law.”

Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee, called for Noem’s immediate impeachment, and for Democrats in the US Senate to vote against a funding bill for DHS that passed the lower chamber last week.

“Apparently, the Trump administration and its secret police only support the First and Second Amendments when it’s convenient to them,” Thompson said. “This is un-American and has to stop.”

With AP

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