In a matter of mere minutes after Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on a Saturday afternoon, a wave of online vilification began sweeping through multiple platforms. The Trump administration, immediately supported and amplified by prominent figures within the far-right digital landscape, launched an aggressive campaign to tarnish Pretti’s name. Without the benefit of any formal investigation or substantiated evidence, these voices labeled the deceased as a so-called “terrorist” and “lunatic,” effectively transforming a tragedy into a politically charged narrative designed to shape public perception before facts could emerge.
Alex Pretti, aged thirty-seven, lost his life during what authorities initially described as a confrontation involving several federal immigration agents. According to a colleague who spoke with *The Guardian*, Pretti was not an undocumented person or foreign suspect but a U.S. citizen employed as a registered nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs—someone whose professional life centered on the care of military veterans. Video evidence provided by a bystander paints a dissonant picture of the events, showing that Pretti appeared to have been assisting a distressed woman who had just been pepper sprayed by one of the agents when the situation escalated and officers suddenly tackled him to the ground.
The fatal incident occurred barely more than two weeks after another controversial shooting involving federal law enforcement: an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent named Jonathan Ross had shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, also thirty-seven, a mother of three children. The close proximity of these two deadly confrontations has deepened public unease and intensified scrutiny over federal authorities’ use of force.
Speaking at a press conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara explained that local officials had only a limited grasp of the circumstances that preceded Pretti’s death. However, in a separate media appearance, Greg Bovino—the Border Patrol commander overseeing all federal enforcement operations in the Minneapolis area—asserted that his agency already possessed a comprehensive account of the altercation. Bovino claimed that Pretti had approached officers while brandishing a nine-millimeter handgun and had resisted repeated attempts at disarmament, leading to what he characterized as an unequivocal case of self-defense. He further asserted that the victim carried two loaded magazines, had no identification on his person, and was intent on “massacring law enforcement.” Bovino also emphasized that the immigration agent who fired the fatal shots was a well-trained officer whose response adhered strictly to established operational protocols.
The Department of Homeland Security subsequently echoed these statements almost verbatim in an official post on the social platform X (formerly Twitter). That post rapidly gained explosive traction, garnering over seventeen million views within a short period, and its framing was quickly adopted across partisan media circles. Right-wing news outlets, most notably *The Post Millennial*, repeated the government’s claims without independent verification, running headlines such as: “Armed agitator Alex Pretti appeared to want ‘maximum damage’ and to ‘massacre’ law enforcement when shot by BP in Minnesota.”
Yet, several key assertions of that narrative are contradicted by publicly accessible evidence. Multiple video clips uploaded by witnesses on social media within minutes of the shooting reveal no visible firearm in Pretti’s possession when federal officers advanced toward him. Detailed frame-by-frame analyses later conducted independently by *The New York Times* and the investigative collective Bellingcat confirm that Pretti was holding a cellphone—not a weapon—at the precise moment he was confronted and forcibly subdued by authorities.
Amid the mounting confusion, former President Donald Trump publicly addressed the incident on his Truth Social platform, shifting blame toward Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. “The Mayor and the Governor are inciting insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric,” Trump wrote, attaching a photograph of a firearm the Department of Homeland Security claimed belonged to Pretti. His remarks effectively redirected the conversation away from the actual shooting and toward partisan conflict over state versus federal authority.
Vice President JD Vance echoed the president’s sentiments, reposting a screenshot of Trump’s statement and adding his own commentary on X: “When I visited Minnesota, what the ICE agents wanted more than anything was to work with local law enforcement so that situations on the ground didn’t get out of hand. The local leadership in Minnesota has so far refused to answer those requests.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, likewise using X, condemned both city and state leaders, coupling his criticism with a dismissive remark about the protesters and the deceased victim himself: “Shame on the leadership of Minnesota — and the lunatics in the street. ICE > MN.”
Responding to this flurry of accusations, Governor Tim Walz spoke firmly at a press conference, describing the federal narrative as “nonsense.” He maintained that Minnesota’s justice system would ultimately determine accountability for the killing and underscored his deep distrust of the federal government’s ability to conduct a neutral investigation. Walz’s statement highlighted the growing tension between state and federal authorities and underscored a larger national debate regarding transparency, truth, and the politicization of tragedy in an era dominated by instantaneous digital communication and highly polarized media ecosystems.
Sourse: https://www.wired.com/story/the-instant-smear-campaign-against-border-patrol-shooting-victim-alex-pretti/
