On social media, pro-Trump influencers and other profiles scrambled the evidence, with posts that included misinformation and fabricated content.
While verified videos and witness accounts showed how federal immigration agents restrained and shot Alex Pretti, 37, the posts attempted to distort events, including in ways designed to support the Trump administration’s claim that Pretti was responsible for his own death. Some publications defamed him or portrayed him as a radical activist.
Nick Sortor, a pro-Trump influencer with 1.4 million followers on the social network X, incorrectly identified Pretti, a US citizen, as an undocumented immigrant. Jack Posobiec, a Trump ally with 3.3 million followers on Photos of different men — dressed in drag or shirtless at a street festival — were misidentified as Pretti and shared widely.
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Posobiec, Sortor and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The chaotic scene was captured on video from multiple angles, but the shaky images also fueled debate online, where they were quickly interpreted and scrutinized.
Authenticated images show that Pretti, who had no known criminal record and was legally in possession of a firearmplaced himself in front of a woman who was being pepper-sprayed by an officer before also being immobilized. One officer took Pretti’s pistol, which he had not drawn, and then another shot him repeatedly in the back. Witnesses confirmed the details shown in the videos.
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The flurry of online activity reflected broader political narratives that emerged in the wake of the shooting. Senior Trump administration officials have repeatedly made baseless accusations of domestic terrorism against Pretti, who was pinned down and unarmed when agents opened fire.
Some conservative accounts disputed the Trump administration’s version. In response to the suggestion that Pretti intended to “massacre” law enforcement officers, right-wing podcaster Tim Pool wrote on X that Pretti “clearly did not intend to massacre ICE.”
Still, many social media users repeated the Trump administration’s narrative about the facts. Others published deceptively doctored images of the scene using artificial intelligence.
One of the images, for example, was edited to portray Pretti pointing a gun at an agentwhen in fact he was holding a cell phone.
Another was altered with Gemini, Google’s AI tool, supposedly to improve sharpness and reveal key details of the scene. The modified image contained obvious errors, including changes to Pretti’s face. Also removed a gun from an agent’s handfurther fueling the debate on social media about what actually happened.
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