Misinformation and Mistrust The Distorted Narrative of Alex Pretti's Killing in Minneapolis

People gather around a makeshift memorial at the site where Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37 year old Minneapolis ICU nurse was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents, in Minneapolis, MN., on Sunday.

MINNEAPOLIS - On social media, pro-Trump influencers and others distorted the facts surrounding the killing of a nurse in Minneapolis on Saturday, spreading posts with misinformation and fabricated content.

Although verified videos and witnesses clearly showed how federal immigration agents tackled and shot Alex Pretti, 37, the posts attempted to twist the events, often in ways that aligned with the Trump administration’s assertions that Mr. Pretti was responsible for his own death. Some posts defamed him or depicted him as a radical activist.

Nick Sortor, a pro-Trump influencer with 1.4 million followers on X, wrongly labeled Mr. Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as an unauthorized immigrant. Jack Posobiec, a Trump supporter with 3.3 million followers on X, falsely claimed Mr. Pretti had “run up on police” and drawn a gun — statements that other X users corrected in an appended note. Images of other men — in drag or shirtless at a street festival — were mistakenly identified as Mr. Pretti and circulated widely.

Mr. Posobiec, Mr. Sortor, and the White House did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The chaotic incident was recorded from multiple angles, yet the shaky footage only fueled further online debate as it was quickly interpreted and analyzed.

Authenticated videos depict Mr. Pretti, who had no known criminal history and held a permit for a concealed firearm, stepping in to protect a woman being pepper-sprayed by an agent before being restrained himself. An agent removed Mr. Pretti’s pistol, which he had not drawn, and then another agent shot him repeatedly in the back. Witnesses confirmed the details shown in the videos.

The surge of online activity reflected the broader political narratives that unfolded after the shooting. Senior Trump administration officials have repeatedly made unsubstantiated accusations of domestic terrorism against Mr. Pretti, who was restrained and disarmed when agents fired on him.

Some conservative accounts challenged the Trump administration’s narrative. In response to the Trump administration’s claim that Mr. Pretti intended to “massacre” law enforcement, Tim Pool, a right-wing podcaster, posted on X that Mr. Pretti “clearly was not intending to massacre ICE.”

Nevertheless, many social media users echoed the Trump administration’s version of events. Others shared images of the scene that were misleadingly altered with artificial intelligence.

One image, for instance, was edited to show Mr. Pretti pointing a gun at an agent, though he was actually holding a phone. Another was modified using Gemini, Google’s A.I. tool, supposedly to enhance and sharpen it to reveal key details about the scene. The altered image contained obvious errors, including changes to Mr. Pretti’s face. It also removed a gun from the agent’s hand, sparking more debate on social media over the events.