MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The parents of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti said Tuesday that the federal government is protecting immigration agents involved in their son’s killing, and that no one from the government has provided substantive information in nine months.
Michael and Susan Pretti called on the Justice Department to hold accountable those who shot and killed their 37-year-old son during President Donald Trump’s intensified deportations targeting Minnesota. Federal prosecutors disclosed in recent court filings They had stopped sharing evidence with Minnesota authorities investigating the January killings Pretty And Renee Bonne by federal agents.
“The feds went on TV and lied about Alex,” said Susan Pretti, his mother. “They tried to slander his memory to cover up their crime. Not only was it wrong, it was shameful.”
Moments after his death on Jan. 24, Trump administration officials sought to portray Pretti, a U.S. citizen and nurse at a veterans hospital, as an armed heckler determined to harm federal agents when he brought his own weapon to a Minneapolis street where police officers clashed with protesters. Kristi Noem, then Secretary of Homeland Security, portrayed the Veterans Administration hospital nurse as a domestic terrorist who violently resisted federal agents. Court records show he had no criminal record.
AP AUDIO: Alex Pretti’s parents say feds are protecting agents involved in his murder
At a news conference, Susan Pretti, the mother of Alex Pretti, a murdered Minneapolis nurse, said she wants the truth to be told about her son and what happened the day he was killed.
Video taken by bystanders that day showed Pretti only had a cellphone in his hand. Since then, no footage has shown him brandishing a weapon or attacking federal agents moments before his death.
The Prettis spoke Tuesday at a news conference hosted by an attorney representing the family, calling their treatment by the Trump administration “cruelty.” They said they decided to speak out after being “blocked” by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Dan Rosen.
“At every turn, they ignored us, misled us and protected Alex’s killers,” said Michael Pretti, his father. “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.”
After months of contact with Rosen’s office, the federal prosecutor agreed to meet with them in July. But the family and their attorney, Steve Schleicher, said that meeting raised more questions than answers, with Rosen refusing to provide even basic information about the status of the federal investigation into Pretti’s death.
A spokesperson for Rosen’s office had no comment when contacted by The Associated Press on Tuesday. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Pretti family’s comments.
Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration in March for access to documents they said they needed to independently investigate the Pretti and Good shootings. The Trump administration has suggested that state prosecutors do not have jurisdiction to investigate federal agents, while Minnesota officials have said they do not trust the federal government to investigate itself.
The state is still searching for the cellphones of officers involved in the shootings and key interview recordings.
Pretti’s parents recounted how they first learned of his death while called by an Associated Press reporter.
“We learned of his death through the media because we witnessed him being shot in the back multiple times after helping a woman in his community, a fellow Minnesotan, who had been violently pushed to the ground,” Michael Pretti said. “No one from the federal government called us on that horrible day, but they went on TV to tell lies about Alex. No one from the federal government has called us since.”
He said videos of his son’s murder haunt his family every day.
“I think it haunts many Americans to see an American citizen who was peaceful and in his community was shot multiple times in the back while he was on the ground,” the father said, describing his family’s grief.
“We wish we didn’t have to be here,” he said. “We wish Alex were alive. We wish we were just in Minneapolis visiting Alex. For him and I to talk about cars, hikes, bikes or whatever comes to mind. This administration has taken that away from us forever.”
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Biesecker reported from Pittsburgh.
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