The sister of Alex Pretti shared an emotional tribute to her late brother in which she also condemned the rampant misinformation that had emerged in the days since he was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis.
“Alex was kind, generous, and had a way of lighting up every room he walked into. He was incredibly intelligent and deeply passionate, and he made people feel safe,” Micayla Pretti said in a statement shared with CBS News and The Associated Press. “But most importantly, he was my brother. I had the privilege of being his little sister for 32 years. I will never be able to hug him, laugh with him, or cry to him again because of those thugs — and that is a pain no words can fully capture.”
Alex Pretti’s life goal “was to help someone — anyone,” she added, pointing to his work as an intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital. “My brother is, and always will be, my hero.”
Elsewhere in her statement, Micayla Pretti condemned the politicization of her brother’s death, noting that “hearing disgusting lies spread” about her sibling has been “absolutely gut-wrenching.”
“When does this end? How many more innocent lives must be lost before we say enough?” she noted.
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Alex Pretti, 37, was among a group of people who were protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Saturday when he was gunned down by federal agents.
The altercation was captured from various angles in cell phone videos, all of which appear to show Alex Pretti behaving nonviolently. As was the case in the Jan. 7 shooting of fellow Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good, however, some members of the Trump administration have claimed the agents were acting in self-defense.
“This individual impeded the law enforcement officers and attacked them,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Saturday, before accusing Alex Pretti of “domestic terrorism.”
In a conversation with CNN’s Dana Bash that aired Sunday, U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino shared similar sentiments, claiming Alex Pretti was “actively impeding and assaulting law enforcement” before he was killed.
Other lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have pushed back on the administration’s response to Alex Pretti’s death. His parents, Susan and Michael Pretti, have described the “sickening lies told about our son by the administration” as both “reprehensible and disgusting.”
“Please get the truth out about our son,” they said in a statement Sunday. “He was a good man.”