Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, has called on US President Donald Trump to pull federal immigration agents out of the state following the fatal shooting of a demonstrator in Minneapolis, the second such killing in the city amid an intensified immigration crackdown.
Speaking at a news briefing on Sunday, Walz addressed Trump directly as pressure mounted for an independent investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot dead during a protest.
“What’s the plan, Donald Trump? What is the plan?” Walz asked.
“What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state? You thought fear, violence and chaos is what you wanted from us? Then you clearly underestimate the people of this state and nation.”
“We believe in law and order in this state; we believe in peace,” Walz added. “And we believe that Donald Trump needs to pull these 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another person.”
Pretti was shot and killed on Saturday during a confrontation with federal immigration agents on an icy Minneapolis roadway. His death came less than three weeks after another immigration officer fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and US citizen, in the same city.
Senior Trump administration officials have defended Pretti’s killing, despite video footage that appears to contradict their accounts. As in the case of Good’s death, officials claimed Pretti intended to harm agents and pointed to a handgun they said was found on him.
Videos widely circulated on social media show Pretti never drawing a weapon. The footage captures agents firing roughly 10 shots seconds after he was sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant and forced to the ground.
The images have further fuelled protests in Minneapolis against the presence of federal immigration agents, with around 1,000 people taking part in a demonstration on Sunday.
Claims that agents acted in self-defence — echoed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials — have drawn outrage from local law enforcement, Minneapolis residents and Democrats in Congress.
Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton also weighed in, urging Americans to defend their core values.
“The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault,” Obama wrote in a statement released jointly with Michelle Obama.
Trump, who earlier described Pretti as a “gunman”, placed responsibility for both deaths on Democrats, accusing state and local authorities of refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
“By doing this, Democrats are putting Illegal Alien Criminals over Taxpaying, Law-Abiding Citizens, and they have created dangerous circumstances for EVERYONE involved. Tragically, two American Citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat ensued chaos,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Additional footage from the scene shows Pretti holding a phone, not a gun, as he attempts to assist other protesters who had been pushed to the ground. In one video, he is seen filming as an agent shoves a woman to the pavement, before stepping between them and raising his arm to shield his face as pepper spray is deployed.
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