The Instant Smear Campaign Against Border Patrol Shooting Victim Alex Pretti

in a few minutes After Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, the Trump administration, backed by right-wing influencers, launched a smear campaign against the victim, labeling him a “terrorist” and “crazy.”

Preeti, 37, died during a confrontation with several federal immigration agents. According to a colleague who spoke to the Guardian, Preeti was a US citizen and a registered nurse who worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs. A bystander’s video shows Preeti attempting to help a woman who was pepper-sprayed by an immigration agent when officers caught up to her.

Preeti’s murder comes 17 days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot mother-of-three Renee Nicole Good. Good was also 37 years old at the time of her death.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Saturday that information about what led to the fatal confrontation was limited, but in a separate news conference, Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who oversees federal operations in Minneapolis, claimed a full assessment of what happened had been conducted.

Bovino claimed that Preeti had approached officers with a 9 mm handgun, resisted disarming and was shot, in what he described as an apparent act of self-defense. They claimed the man had two loaded magazines and lacked identification, and alleged that Preeti intended to “massacre law enforcement”, while the Border Patrol agent who killed Preeti, they said, had extensive training.

The Department of Homeland Security repeated Bovino’s claims in a post on

Key parts of these claims are contradicted by publicly available evidence.

Multiple videos shared on social media in the moments after the shooting showed no indication that Preeti’s gun was visible when approached by officers. Analysis by The New York Times and Bellingcat found that Preeti apparently had a phone, not a gun, when federal officers approached him and forced him to the ground.

On Truth Social, President Donald Trump blamed Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. “The mayor and governor are inciting an insurrection with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric,” Trump wrote in a post, which also included a photo of a gun DHS claimed Priti had in his possession at the time he was murdered.

Vice President J.D. Vance echoed Trump’s criticism of local leadership, sharing a screenshot of the president’s Truth Social post and writing on Twitter: “When I visited Minnesota, ICE agents wanted to work with local law enforcement to keep the situation on the ground from getting out of control. Local leadership in Minnesota has so far refused to respond to those requests.”

Posting on Twitter, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth criticized Frey and Walz as well as demonizing the victim: “Shame on Minnesota’s leadership – and on the maniacs on the street. ICE > MN.”

Walz called the federal statement “nonsense” at a news conference.

Walz said, “Minnesota’s justice system will have the final say on Preeti’s murder”, adding, “The federal government cannot be trusted with this investigation.”