After federal immigration agents kill U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, Shapiro, Philly-area Dems decry ICE’s ‘abuses of power’

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and a number of Philadelphia-area legislators are condemning federal immigration officials for the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old man in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference that the man was killed in a fatal shooting involving several federal immigration officials, but added that information about the events leading up to the shooting was limited. The man was identified by his parents as Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, according to The Associated Press.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Pretti approached the officers armed with a handgun and “violently resisted” when officers tried to disarm him. O’Hara said that police believe the man was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.”

According to AP, a video provided to the news outlet shows an officer shoving a person who appeared to be holding his phone up toward the officer. Eventually, after the same officer shoves him again and the two fall back, the video shows at least seven officers surrounding the man and several trying to bring the man’s arms behind his back as he appears to resist. An officer with what appears to be a canister appears to strike the man several times.

A gunshot can be heard, but AP wrote that it’s unclear from where it came. Officers back off the man, and more shots are heard before the video shows the man lying motionless on the street.

In a statement on X, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called videos circulating on social media of the killing “horrific” and said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “clear abuses of power are only creating danger in our communities.”

“ICE, directed by Donald Trump and his Administration, is violating people’s constitutional rights,” the governor wrote. “It’s past time for them to stop wreaking havoc on our communities.”

It’s unclear if Shapiro’s statement marks a shift in his administration’s stance toward Pennsylvania State Police collaborating with federal immigration authorities. State police currently operate under a 2019 internal policy that limits cooperation with ICE, but still requires officers to provide information on a suspected undocumented immigrant if the federal agency demands it and gives troopers discretion to contact ICE to “provide pertinent information” if they’ve interacted with someone suspected of being undocumented.

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis wrote on X that he was “outraged” by the events in Minneapolis, echoing Shapiro by calling it an “abuse of power.”

“No one should fear armed federal agents in their own neighborhood,” Davis wrote. “There must be accountability, transparency, and an immediate end to these reckless and inhumane operations.”

He added that he reached out to Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan “to express my support during this difficult time.”

U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Delaware County Democrat, called for federal immigration agents to leave Minnesota, saying that their presence is “bringing chaos and terror.”

“The American people deserve an independent, transparent investigation,” she wrote on X.

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Montgomery County Democrat, called the man’s death “an execution” that was “empowered by this thuggish President’s madness.”

“This America — where citizens are beaten and shot in the street as if they are less than human — is unrecognizable,” she wrote on X. “It goes against every document and value we hold dear.”

U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat, also called on ICE to “withdraw from Minnesota at once before more people are harmed” in a post on X.

New Jersey U.S. Sen. Andy Kim wrote on X that President Donald Trump “has brought chaos and fear and made all of us less safe.”

“When Trump declared war on the enemy from within and said our cities were to be training grounds, he knew exactly what he was unleashing on us,” Kim wrote.

U.S. Rep Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, wrote on X that he supports impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and called on Republicans to demand “real accountability and reform for this administration’s continued lawlessness.”

Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, attended an anti-ICE rally outside of the Philadelphia Free Library on Saturday. According to Stephen Caruso with Spotlight PA, he told the crowd of roughly 200 people that “We’re on the right side of history.”

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican who represents Bucks County and a slice of Montgomery County, lamented Pettri’s death while calling for the country to “lower the temperature, reject reckless rhetoric, condemn violence and hatred in all their forms.”

“We cannot continue like this,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “The rule of law is a solemn social contract. It exists so disagreements are settled through order and reason. So citizens can peacefully protest, and so law enforcement officers can enforce the law without facing violence themselves.”

“When this social contract is compromised, our communities are less safe.”

The shooting comes amid widespread protests in the Minneapolis region following the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed when an ICE agent shot into her vehicle.

Saturday’s shooting occurred a little more than a mile away from where Good was shot, AP reported.