(Minneapolis) Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday defended the actions of federal agents who shot and killed a nurse in Minneapolis the day before, provoking indignation in the Democratic opposition which denounces lies and an immigration police out of control.
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What you need to know
- Federal agents killed man in Minneapolis on Saturday;
- The victim is Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse;
- The Department of Homeland Security said he brandished a weapon;
- The videos circulating contradict the version of the federal authorities;
- The shooting happened three weeks after an ICE agent killed Renee Good.
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old American nurse employed in the intensive care unit at a veterans’ hospital, died after an altercation on Saturday with federal agents in Minneapolis, during a demonstration against immigration police operations (ICE).
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PRETTI FAMILY, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Alex Pretti, 37, was an American nurse employed in the intensive care unit at a veterans hospital.
Her death aggravates an already tense situation since that of Renee Good, an American woman shot and killed on January 7 by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
This Minnesota metropolis has been shaken for several weeks by a protest movement against the presence of ICE.
As it did after the death of Renee Good, the Trump administration immediately placed the blame on Alex Pretti, with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem accusing him in particular of “terrorism”, because according to her he was preparing to endanger the agents with a pistol of which the authorities published an image.
“We cannot attack the police in this country without suffering the consequences,” the director of the FBI, Kash Patel, insisted on the Fox News channel.
“Disgusting lies”
An analysis by AFP of several videos of the event, however, seems to contradict this version.
The images show Alex Pretti, phone in hand in a snowy street, filming armed men in civilian clothes wearing vests with the “Police” logo.
He intervened when an agent threw a demonstrator to the ground on the sidewalk and received a jet of tear gas in the face.
An agent then tackles Pretti to the ground, several of his colleagues intervene and struggle to handcuff him, on an icy ground.
Seconds later, as an officer dressed in gray appears to remove a gun from the waist of Alex Pretti who is kneeling and leaning forward, with several police officers above him, a shot is fired.
The agents suddenly move aside and then shoot his inanimate body several times from a distance. At least ten gunshots are heard.
In a statement, Alex Pretti’s parents accused the Trump administration of spreading “sickening lies” about their son, “a person with a big heart.”
Many opposition lawmakers expressed anger at the administration’s allegations.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy accused Republican officials on Sunday on CNN of being “blatant liars”.
“It should scare the general American public that the Trump administration lies so easily,” he added.
” Chaos ”
The Democratic governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, called on Saturday that the investigation be led by local authorities, and not federal. “We cannot trust the federal state,” he said, before accusing ICE of sowing “chaos and violence.”
In a decision Saturday evening, a federal judge also ordered the Trump administration to preserve evidence related to the death of Alex Pretti.
Despite the nurse’s death, senior Border Patrol official Greg Bovino argued Sunday on CNN that “the victims are the agents.”
The official also praised the “fantastic training” and “great work” of the agents who “prevented possible shootings against law enforcement.”
PHOTO EVELYN HOCKSTEIN, REUTERS
Top Border Patrol official Greg Bovino
Donald Trump accused local Democratic elected officials of being at the origin of the tensions.
“The mayor and governor are pushing for insurrection with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric,” he accused on his Truth Social platform, calling for immigration police to “do their job.”
Minneapolis has been under tension since the death of Renee Good, who became a symbol of the excesses of which ICE is regularly accused.
On Saturday evening, several hundred demonstrators gathered in a city park in the freezing cold to protest the death of Alex Pretti.
