Alex Pretti's parents accuse federal officials of stonewalling

Michael and Susan Pretti accused federal officials on Tuesday of stonewalling them and shielding the people responsible for their son's death. The parents spoke at a press conference in Minneapolis, their first public remarks since Alex Pretti was killed.

Alex Pretti was 37 and worked as a nurse at a veterans hospital. He died on 24 January after being fatally shot by federal immigration agents, according to The Guardian. His parents have retained lawyers who helped prosecute the George Floyd case, according to PBS NewsHour. They appeared at the press conference with their attorney, Steven Schleicher.

Michael Pretti said: "At every turn, they have ignored us, misled us and shielded Alex's killers." He told reporters to "Do your job and stop shielding Alex's killers," according to Reuters. Susan Pretti said the federal government "went on TV and lied about Alex," and she said officials had tried to slander his memory to cover up what she described as their crime.

Video footage of the incident showed that Pretti had a cellphone in his hand. It showed he did not brandish a weapon or attack agents before they shot him in the back as he lay in the street, according to The Guardian. He had no criminal record and held a license to carry the handgun he had holstered. The footage shows agents removed the weapon before they opened fire.

The couple said Attorney General Todd Blanche and Dan Rosen, the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota, had stonewalled them. Rosen agreed to meet the parents only in July, after they had reached out for months, the couple said. He declined to provide basic information about the status of the investigation. The parents called on the Justice Department to hold those involved in their son's death accountable, and they said the federal government had not given them meaningful information about the case.

Minnesota officials said the federal government had stopped sharing information with state investigators looking into Pretti's death and the death of Renee Good. Good, also 37, was fatally shot by an officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as she tried to drive away during a protest in January.

The Justice Department said in a statement to Reuters that communications with family members typically do not take place during an investigation. Such contact, it said, usually comes at a later stage, such as an indictment, a formal criminal charge, or at the initial appearance, plea, trial or sentencing.