Alex Pretti’s family slams Trump over ‘ridiculous’ attacks on their son after he was killed by border agents
The family of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse killed by federal agents earlier this year during immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, have pushed back on attacks launched by President Donald Trump and members of his administration.
In an interview on “Good Morning America” that aired Tuesday, the Pretti family reflected on Trump’s Truth Social post in which he called Alex Pretti an “agitator” and “perhaps, insurrectionist.”
“It’s so unpresidential. I mean, it’s ridiculous that the leader of the free world speaks that way about an American citizen,” Michael Pretti, the father of Alex Pretti, said in the interview.
“We’ve seen what happened. The videos are pretty clear. But we want justice. We want accountability for the people that did this to Alex,” he said.
Susan Pretti, Alex Pretti’s mother, added: “We still hear those words about our child.” Asked if she wanted an apology, she said: “Why shouldn’t we get one?”
Trump and other administration officials were quick to blame Pretti for inciting a confrontation with federal agents in Minneapolis that led to two Customs and Border Protection officers firing multiple shots into his back after he had been pulled to the ground by multiple agents and had had his firearm, which he was legally allowed to carry, removed from him.
The same day officers fatally shot Pretti, White House official Stephen Miller called him an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.”
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem insisted Pretti had “committed an act of domestic terrorism.”
But multiple videos of the incident painted a different story – showing federal agents removing Pretti’s holstered pistol and wrestling him to the ground before firing multiple shots into his back.
“How are you supposed to trust a government after that?” Micayla Pretti, his sister, asked in the interview with “Good Morning America.”
White House Spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement: “President Trump’s response has remained consistent throughout this entire situation: he views Mr. Pretti’s death as a tragedy and has advocated for a fact-based investigation.”
Bis reiterated that the investigation into Alex Pretti’s death is still active and reminded the public “not to obstruct law enforcement operations.”
“President Trump also views the deaths of countless innocent Americans at the hands of criminal illegal aliens as a tragedy that should warrant equal coverage from the mainstream media who choose to ignore these incidents,” Bis added, pointing to comments White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made in January.
The White House also referred The Independent to a statement from a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson claiming the department “works to give the American people accurate information as quickly as possible.”
