The parents of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year, accused federal authorities of obstructing them and protecting their son’s killers.
At a news conference Tuesday, Michael and Susan Pretti made their first public remarks since their son’s death in January, calling on the Justice Department to hold those involved in their son’s death accountable. The federal government has not provided them with meaningful information about the case, they said.
“At every turn, they ignored us, misled us and protected Alex’s killers,” Michael Pretti said. “We are a family that loves this country. We have faith in the institutions of this country. We believe in the rule of law – and that people should be held accountable under that law.”
Pretti, who worked at a veterans hospital, died Jan. 24 after being shot by federal immigration agents. The Trump administration quickly portrayed Pretti as an armed domestic terrorist and baselessly accused him of seeking to harm agents during Donald Trump’s immigration operations in Minnesota. They defended the officers and said Pretti violently resisted.
Video footage of the incident contradicted the government’s account and showed that Pretti had a cell phone in his hand and did not brandish a weapon or attack the officers before they shot him in the back as he lay in the street.
Pretti had no criminal record and had a license to carry the handgun he had in his holster before officers removed the weapon and opened fire.
“The federal government went on TV and lied about Alex,” Susan Pretti said. “They tried to slander his memory to cover up their crime. Not only was it wrong, it was shameful.”
The couple spoke out publicly after Todd Blanche, the U.S. attorney general, and Dan Rosen, Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor, stood in their way, they said. The Trump administration argued that the state lacked jurisdiction to investigate federal agents.
Rosen only agreed to meet with them in July after months of contact, but the prosecutor refused to provide basic information about the status of the investigation, the couple said.
Minnesota officials recently said the federal government has stopped sharing information with state investigators looking into the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman who was fatally shot by an ICE agent as she tried to flee in her car during a protest in January.
The couple said this year has been miserable for their family and told CNN in an interview that they were just seeking justice.
“We are asking for nothing other than accountability and (that) the Department of Justice and Dan Rosen do their job,” Susan Pretti said. “Alex was murdered nine months ago. It’s hard to get up every day, function, be a parent, knowing your child will never come home.”
In a statement to Reuters, the Justice Department said “communications with family members, if any, occur at a later stage in a case, such as indictment, initial appearance, plea, trial or sentencing. These communications generally do not occur during the course of an investigation.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed
Gn usa
