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Welcome
to our live coverage of the outcry across the US following the fatal shooting
of 37-year-old American citizen Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis on
Saturday, the second such killing there in less than three weeks.
Pretti’s
family released a statement on Saturday evening in which they said they were
“heartbroken but also very angry” after Donald Trump and his officials referred
to Pretti as a “gunman” who had approached US border patrol officers.
“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. He has 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,” the family statement said.
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
Two
witnesses to the killing have said in sworn testimony that the intensive care
nurse was not brandishing a weapon when he approached federal agents in
Minneapolis on Saturday.
One
witness, who filmed the shooting from right behind Pretti, said federal agents
tackled him after he came to help someone whom they had pushed to the ground.
Footage
from the scene supports the assertion that Pretti is holding a phone, not a
gun, when he was tackled and shot.
In the
aftermath of the killing, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an
image of a handgun, which Donald Trump referred to as “the gunman’s gun” in a
social media post. Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, said at a briefing that
Pretti had “approached US border patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic
handgun”. Greg Bovino, a senior border patrol commander, said: “This looks like
a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law
enforcement.”
Here are
some of the latest developments:
- Minnesota federal judge Eric Tostrud ordered federal agencies to preserve evidence related to Pretti’s death. Tostrud’s ruling marked a response to Minnesota officials’ lawsuit on Saturday alleging that federal officials were stymying investigative efforts.
- Thousands of protesters gathered in cities including Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco, Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. They braved extreme cold to shout slogans including: “Say it once, say it twice, we will not put up with ICE!”
- The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said his party would block a funding package next week if it included money for the DHS, the department responsible for ICE. “What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling – and unacceptable in any American city,” the New York senator said. “Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no.”
- US vice-president JD Vance said on X, without providing evidence for his claims, that “this level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis. It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local
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