President Trump proclaimed Friday that Alex Pretti’s “stock has gone way down” after video emerged of him spitting at federal immigration officers and smashing the taillight of their black SUV days before his killing by border agents in Minneapolis.
“Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“[A]nd then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces,” the president went on. “It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
The video taken Jan. 13 captured Pretti, 37, screaming at federal agents as officers attempted to leave an area beset by anti-immigration enforcement protesters.
Pretti — wearing clothing similar to what he had on when he was fatally shot 11 days later — appeared to spit at one of the agents as they climbed into the vehicle, according to footage from the News Movement.
The ICU nurse then swung his leg at the back right taillight of the government SUV, smashing the red lens as the vehicle was driven away.
Pretti was killed during a struggle with border enforcement officers after they pulled his loaded Sig Sauer pistol from his waistband before firing at least 10 shots at him while he was pinned to the ground.
DHS investigators believe an errant round from Pretti’s own pistol — after it was taken from him — may have prompted Border Patrol agents to open fire.
The two agents involved in the shooting of Pretti have been placed on administrative leave as of Wednesday.
Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota Monday night in an attempt to de-escalate the chaos in the Twin Cities stemming from the deaths of Pretti and fellow anti-ICE protester Renee Good on Jan. 7.
At a news conference Thursday morning, Homan told reporters that federal agents would concentrate on targeted immigration enforcement focusing on migrants who have committed crimes since entering the US illegally.
