The man who was killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis yesterday has been identified as 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti.
Donald Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem labelled Mr Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist’, while Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino suggested he was plotting to ‘massacre law enforcement’.
However, the New York Times and Guardian have said videos from the scene back up eyewitness accounts who say Mr Pretti never drew his gun, which he was legally permitted to carry.
An angry crowd gathered after the shooting and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them ‘cowards’ and telling them to go home.
One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: ‘Boo hoo.’
Here’s all we know about Mr Pretti.
‘A dedicated healthcare worker’
Pretti attended the University of Minnesota, studying biology, society and the environment. After a brief stint working as a scientist, he returned to school and became a nurse.
Michael Pretti, Alex’s father, told AP his son got involved in protests because he ‘cared’ about people.
‘He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests,’ Michael said.
Before being killed, Pretti worked at the local Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in Minneapolis.
President of the local federal employees labour union, Everett Kelley, said: ‘This tragedy did not happen in a vacuum. It is the direct result of an administration that has chosen reckless policy, inflammatory rhetoric, and manufactured crisis over responsible leadership and de-escalation.’
Pretti’s colleague, Dr Dmitri Drekonja, told ABC News he was ‘enraged’ to hear how officials were portraying him.
Pretti’s parents slam ‘lies’ told by the Trump administration about their son
Mr Pretti’s parents said the ‘sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting’.
They said: ‘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.’
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