The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed on Sunday that Preeti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, “approached US Border Patrol officers armed with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun”, and that agents “attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted”.
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Video footage shot by bystanders showed Preeti filming a group of U.S. Border Patrol agents on Saturday before coming forward to protect a woman who was pinned to the ground by an agent.
In footage shared by US-based Drop Site News, Preeti can be seen trying to help the woman before she is pinned to the ground and shot multiple times by at least five agents following a scuffle on a snowy road.
Analysis of the footage by US media and Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat shows that an agent had confiscated Preeti’s gun before she was shot.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara later told reporters that Preeti was a “legitimate gun owner” with a permit, and his only criminal history was a few traffic tickets.
Despite the video evidence, Border Patrol Commander at Large Greg Bovino said in a press conference that Preti’s gun showed he wanted to “do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Stephen Miller claimed without evidence that Preeti was a “killer” who had tried to “kill federal agents”, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she had “violently” resisted the arrest.
Popular right-wing influencers amplified the Trump administration’s claims on X.
The MAGA-affiliated account “Libs of TikTok” labeled Preeti as “crazy” and a “killer”.
Right-wing influencer Alexander Muse told his 681,000 followers that Preeti was “expecting a shootout from a distance” with federal agents while there is no evidence he ever fired or brandished his gun.
Some right-wing influencers went even further than repeating the Trump administration’s narrative, layering blatant misinformation on top of officials’ baseless allegations.
Trump ally Nick Sorter, who has 1.4 million followers on
Conservative podcaster Jesse Kelly denigrated Preeti as a “soldier of the communist revolution” who “died fighting in the war” in an X post that included a photo of Preeti on a hike.
MAGA-affiliated accounts also shared digitally altered images, purported to be pictures of Preeti wearing women’s clothing.
In a statement, Preeti’s parents said that their son was a “kind soul” and that the administration’s “disgusting lies” about him were “reprehensible and disgusting”.
The claims that Preeti was a “domestic terrorist” and the investigation into her political beliefs mirror similar allegations made against Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman who was fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Trump administration officials also described Good as a “terrorist” and claimed she was trying to run over an immigration officer with her vehicle, despite video evidence casting doubt on those claims.
Officials have also spread disinformation generally aimed at discrediting the protests against Trump’s anti-immigration actions.
The White House last week shared an image of an arrested activist, Nekima Levi Armstrong, that was altered by artificial intelligence to make her appear emotionally distressed.
Some Republicans have rejected the narrative surrounding Pretty’s death, including Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, who said on Twitter that “carrying a gun is not punishable by death, it is a constitutionally protected God-given right”.
The National Rifle Association, a pro-gun lobby group, also rejected a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor’s suggestion that approaching a law enforcement officer with a gun could be grounds to shoot.
Minnesota law enforcement officials have also disputed statements from Trump administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance’s claim that local authorities have refused to assist their federal counterparts in investigating Preeti’s murder.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Sunday that it was state officials who were being hindered, saying in a statement on Friday that its officers had been denied access to the crime scene by DHS.
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