Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, has demanded that US President Donald Trump pull “untrained” federal immigration agents out of the state after the fatal shooting of a demonstrator in Minneapolis, the second such killing in the city amid an ongoing immigration crackdown.
As calls mounted for an independent investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, Walz posed a question directly to Trump during a news briefing on Sunday.
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“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.”
Walz’s comments came after senior Trump administration officials defended Pretti’s killing, despite graphic video evidence appearing to contradict their accounts.
Federal agents shot and killed Pretti on Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway in Minneapolis, less than three weeks after an immigration officer shot dead Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and US citizen.
Trump administration officials have claimed that Pretti intended to harm the agents, as they did after Good’s death, pointing to a handgun they said was discovered on his person.
Videos shared widely on social media and verified by US media showed Pretti never drawing a weapon, with agents firing about 10 shots at him seconds after he was sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant and thrown to the ground.
The footage has further inflamed the ongoing protests in Minneapolis against the presence of federal immigration agents, with about 1,000 people participating in a demonstration on Sunday.
The claims that border agents act in self-defence, echoed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other members of the Trump administration on Sunday, have prompted outrage among local law enforcement, many Minneapolis residents and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Trump, who had earlier described Pretti as a “gunman”, on Sunday laid the blame for his and Good’s deaths on Democrats, accusing state and local authorities of refusing to cooperate with federal authorities.
“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 said on Truth Social.
Democratic strategist Arshad Hasan said Pretti’s killing and its aftermath were “deeply unsettling”, and accused federal agents of turning a low‑crime city into an “occupation”.
“I don’t know why a government agency should get particular exemptions from due process when somebody is murdered… Homicide is a crime for which the state and local law enforcement have jurisdiction,” Hasan told Al Jazeera, adding that the community was “grieving” and felt “under siege”.
Holding phone, not gun
Videos from the scene show Pretti holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, as he tries to help other protesters who had been pushed to the ground by agents.
As one video begins, Pretti can be seen filming while a federal agent pushes away one woman and shoves another to the ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the women, then raises his left arm to shield himself as the agent pepper-sprays him.
Several agents then take hold of Pretti – who struggles with them – and force him onto his hands and knees. As the agents pin Pretti down, someone shouts what sounds like a warning about the presence of a gun.
Video footage then appears to show one of the agents removing a gun from Pretti and stepping away from the group with it.
Moments later, an officer with a handgun points at Pretti’s back and fires four shots in quick succession. Several more shots can then be heard as another agent appears to fire at Pretti.
Thomas Warrick, a former official with the Department of Homeland Security, said that while border agents have the legal right to carry out their duties without interference, Trump’s immigration crackdown has gone beyond what many of his supporters voted for.
“Americans do want to see violent criminals removed from the country, especially after they have served any sentences imposed by the courts,” Warrick told Al Jazeera.
“But in this case, people are seeing tactics, and they are seeing people targeted who have done nothing wrong other than being here in the United States without authorisation.”
“ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] does have the authority to carry out detention operations, but the tactics they use need to be in accordance with regulations that the American people will accept,” Warrick added.
After top federal officials described Pretti as an “assassin” who had assaulted the agents, his parents on Saturday issued a statement condemning the Trump administration’s “sickening lies” about their son.
“Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” the family said in the statement.
“He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press programme on Sunday, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that an investigation was necessary to get a full understanding of the killing.
Asked if agents had already removed the pistol from Pretti when they fired on him, Blanche said, “I do not know. And nobody else knows, either. That’s why we’re doing an investigation.”
Multiple senators from Trump’s Republican Party also called for a thorough probe into the killing and for cooperation with local authorities. “There must be a full joint federal and state investigation,” Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.
Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to heavily Democratic Minneapolis for weeks, after conservative media reported on alleged fraud by Somali immigrants.
Trump has repeatedly amplified the racially tinged accusations, including on Sunday, when he posted on his Truth Social platform: “Minnesota is a Criminal COVER UP of the massive Financial Fraud that has gone on!”
Minneapolis has one of the largest Somali communities in the US.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back against Trump’s claims of fraud.
“It’s not about fraud, because if he sent people who understand forensic accounting, we’d be having a different conversation. But he’s sending armed masked men,” he said.
