The president of the United States, Donald Trump, took advantage of one of the events with which he inaugurated the campaign for the midterm elections on Tuesday to promise an “honest” investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, the American citizen shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis, although at the same time he blamed the victim for carrying a weapon. The message, launched in the middle of a political tour of Iowa, placed the open crisis in Minneapolis at the center of the Republican’s electoral start.
“I want an honest and honest investigation. I have to supervise it myself,” Trump declared before the press, in an attempt to contain the indignation caused by the death of Pretti, the second American citizen shot dead by federal forces in the city in just weeks, after the case of Renée Good on January 7.
Despite this promise of review, the president immediately introduced a direct reproach to the victim, a 37-year-old nurse with a license to carry concealed weapons. “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two completely full magazines,” Trump said before giving a political speech. “That is a lot of bad things,” he added, although he described the event as an “unfortunate event.”
The statements contrast with the videos spread on social networks, which show that Pretti did not touch his weapon and that he was shot a dozen times when he was already on the ground. They have also provoked an angry reaction from pro-gun groups, one of the electoral blocs most loyal to the Republican Party, who have stressed that the deceased carried the weapon legally and did not represent an immediate threat.
Trump also avoided publicly supporting the “domestic terrorist” label used in the first hours by his advisor Stephen Miller and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Asked about this, the president assured that he had not heard “anyone” use that term.
Hours later, the Department of Homeland Security sent a report to Congress in which it acknowledged that two federal agents shot Pretti during the intervention. According to that document, Customs and Border Protection agents tried to arrest him after a struggle, at which point one of them shouted “He has a gun” before opening fire with a Glock 19, joined by a second agent with a Glock 47. The report does not specify when Pretti’s gun was removed, despite the fact that the videos released indicate that he was already unarmed before the first shot.
The official version maintains that Pretti “resisted” arrest after intervening when a woman ran towards him for help after being pushed by an agent during “security” tasks on a highway. This reconstruction has intensified criticism of the anti-immigration campaign deployed in Minnesota and has fueled accusations of disproportionate use of force.
The crisis has already had political consequences. Trump has removed the head of the Border Patrol, Gregory Bovino, the visible face of the raids in Minneapolis, from the focus and has placed the so-called “border czar,” Tom Homan, at the head of local management. In parallel, the Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives have demanded the resignation of Kristi Noem and have threatened to promote an impeachment process, while the president has closed ranks with her, ensuring that “she is doing a very good job.”
At the same time, Trump has announced a “small de-escalation” of raids in Minnesota. “It’s not a withdrawal, it’s a small change,” he said in a television interview, defending Bovino’s departure from Minneapolis and Homan’s role as an interlocutor with local authorities.
Homan met separately this Tuesday with Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who described the meeting as “very productive” and called for an end to Operation Metro Surge. “Public safety works best when it is based on community trust, not tactics that generate fear or division,” the councilman wrote.
Meanwhile, tension continues in the city. Although the clashes have subsided, hundreds of people are holding vigils in memory of Pretti and Good, and a new massive demonstration has already been called for Friday. That same day, a federal judge has summoned the acting head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service to explain the actions of his agents, in a case that Trump is now facing not only as president, but as a candidate at the start of his campaign.
