The parents of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse killed by federal immigration agents in January, said Tuesday the federal government is shielding the officers involved in their son's death and has not provided substantive information for nine months.
Michael and Susan Pretti held a news conference in Minneapolis to call for the Department of Justice to hold accountable those who shot their 37-year-old son during President Donald Trump's ramp-up in deportations targeting Minnesota.
"The federal government went on TV and lied about Alex," Susan Pretti said. "They tried to slander" her son, she added, without completing the statement in available accounts.
The Pretti family's statement comes as federal prosecutors disclosed in recent court filings that they had stopped sharing evidence with Minnesota authorities investigating the January killings of Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers.
The parents said no one from the government has reached out with any substantive information since their son's death. The lack of communication and the withholding of evidence from state investigators has intensified their frustration with federal authorities' handling of the case.
Pretti, 37, was killed during an immigration enforcement operation as the Trump administration accelerated deportation efforts in the state. The circumstances surrounding his death and the federal government's initial public statements about the incident have become a point of contention for his family, who dispute the official narrative presented by authorities.
The decision by federal prosecutors to cease sharing evidence with Minnesota authorities represents a significant development in the investigation, effectively limiting state-level oversight of the case and the officers involved.