President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance laid blame on Minnesota officials and local law enforcement following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old U.S. citizen in Minneapolis at the hands of federal officers Saturday morning, suggesting local police should have been there to protect those officers.
Protests erupted in Minneapolis on Saturday morning after multiple videos captured federal officers wrestling a man — later identified as registered nurse Alex Pretti — to the ground before firing multiple shots, killing him.
The Department of Homeland Security justified the killing as an officer’s act of self-defense, alleging Pretti was armed and “violently resisted.”
Commander-at-large for U.S. Border Patrol Greg Bovino accused Pretti of “wanting to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” during a Saturday press conference. It remains unclear from the videos whether Pretti was reaching for a weapon.
Trump took to Truth Social following the shooting to direct blame on state and local authorities, claiming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called off local police and prevented them from protecting the federal officers.
