'Please Get the Truth Out,' Alex Pretti's Parents Plead as Trump Officials Baselessly Smear Shooting Victim

Michael and Susan Pretti urged the press and the public to counter the Trump administration's baseless claims about their son, Alex Pretti, after he was fatally shot by US Border Patrol agents on a street in Minneapolis and immediately—with no evidence—declared a "domestic terrorist" by top White House officials.

Pretti's parents expressed heartbreak as well as anger over their son's killing, which no federal officials contacted the family about, leaving them to learn he had been fatally shot from an Associated Press reporter who reached out to them.

"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," said the Pretti family. "Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact."

They emphasized that Pretti acted as a "hero" in his final moments, moving to help a woman who had just been forcefully pushed to the ground by a federal agent.

"His last thought and act was to protect a woman," they said before directly disputing claims by officials including White House Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who have made claims that are contradicted by multiple videos of the shooting.

In addition to labeling Pretti a "domestic terrorist"—a claim likely stemming from a memo signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, which claims that acts of domestic terrorism include "impeding" or "doxing" law enforcement officers even though filming federal agents is a constitutional right—officials have claimed he "approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun" and wanted to inflict "maximum damage" on the agents.

Bovino on Saturday refused to answer a direct question about when Pretti approached the officers with a weapon; videos show him holding a phone, not the firearm he was legally permitted to carry in a holster, and approaching the woman who was pushed to the ground. The agents then pushed him to ground and surrounded him before one reached into the fray and took Pretti's gun just before at least one officer fired roughly 10 shots, killing him. Despite the fact that Pretti had just been disarmed and was on the ground, officials have called the shooting "defensive."

"The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting," said Michael and Susan Pretti. "Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by [President Donald] Trump's murdering and cowardly thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed."

"Please get the truth out about our son," the Pretti family concluded. "He was a good man."

Pretti had no criminal record. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology, society, and the environment from University of Minnesota in 2011 and worked as a research scientist before going back to school to become a registered nurse.

Pretti's father added in comments to the AP that his son "was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset," and had exercised his First Amendment right to demonstrate against the Trump administration's mass deportation and detention campaign and an ICE agent's killing of Renee Good earlier this month.

“He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street," said his father. "He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”

After the fatal shooting, the son of a deceased veteran whom Pretti had cared for at the VA hospital posted a video of him reading a "final salute" for his father.

"My father's final words to me were, 'Continue to fight the good fight," wrote the man. "He would be honored in Alex’s sacrifice, and ashamed of this current administration. In my dad's words I encourage you all to continue to ‘fight the good fight.'"

The AP reported that as of Saturday night, Pretti's family still had not heard from federal officials about their son's killing.