The family of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the Minneapolis intensive care nurse fatally shot by a federal immigration officer, issued a searing statement accusing the Trump administration of spreading ‘sickening lies’.
The Pretti family demanded the public see the video evidence that makes it unmistakably clear that their son was holding a cellphone and not a gun when he was attacked and killed.
‘We are heartbroken but also very angry,’ the family said in a statement released after they reviewed bystander footage of the shooting.
‘Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.’
The family’s statement directly challenges federal claims that Pretti ‘approached’ officers with a firearm and frames his final moments as an act of protection, not aggression.
The family of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the Minneapolis intensive care nurse fatally shot by a federal immigration officer, issued a searing statement accusing the Trump administration of spreading ‘sickening lies’
The Pretti family demanded the public see the video evidence they say makes it clear that their son was holding a cellphone and not a gun when he was attacked and killed
‘I do not throw around the hero term lightly,’ the family wrote. ‘However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.’
They continued: ‘The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.’
According to the family, the video shows Pretti ‘with 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,’ the statement concludes. ‘He was a good man.’
