Around nine in the morning on Saturday, Jan. 24, ICE agents brutally shot and killed an ICU nurse in Minneapolis.

Alex Pretti, 37, was killed by federal immigration agents. Video footage of a physical altercation started by an agent pushing Pretti, knocking another woman to the ground, and then further attacking Pretti as he tried to assist her, was taken by multiple protesters at the scene. And then, the shots were heard. 10 exactly, all delivered as Pretti’s back was turned.

This marks the second death in January linked to Trump’s immigration policy implementation, following the murder of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen

Before the homicide, agents were said to have been conducting a targeted operation against an immigrant who was undocumented and reportedly “wanted for violent assault,” according to CNN. Alex Pretti was then seen approaching the officers with a handheld weapon, according to initial Dept. of Homeland Security reports. 

Except it wasn’t a weapon. It wasn’t a gun. 

Alex Pretti, like Renee Good, was a U.S. citizen, who spent his life working with patients at the Veterans Affairs facility. Pretti was a law-abiding citizen, who saved countless lives throughout his career. He was described as a loving and warm person to everyone around him. 

After chasing Pretti down, witnesses saw Pretti holding his phone when another federal agent pushed a bystander to the ground. Pretti, after being sprayed by an agent with a chemical irritant, appears to try and help another bystander to her feet, when agents wrestle him back down. During the fray, Pretti’s legally concealed firearm is spotted by agents in his waistband and confiscated by one of them.

And then, shots ring out. 10 in total–seen in several bits of footage. Delivered from two different agents.

Though it’s unclear to some who shot first, the truth is in the dozens of recordings taken by the crowd of angry protesters. Alex Pretti, along with Renee Good, was wrongfully killed by ICE agents in altercations where better-trained law enforcement officials would not have reacted the same way.

Agents for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have carried out sweeps of immigrants within Democrat-voting cities, while forcefully taking care of protesters who stand in their way of destruction, the most recent site being Minneapolis. Danger for immigrants and citizens only heightens for other “blue” cities and states. 

The actions of these agents, and of President Trump, have been disgusting to say the least. What in the past has been political disputes between people has turned into a war of morality and an issue of human rights at hand. What has been advertised as stricter border control and a crackdown on illegal aliens has turned into targeting people of color, and people who use their voice to fight against the present injustice. 

Alex Pretti and Renee Good did not deserve to die. And, they did not deserve to have the narrative of their death be twisted and turned into hate-filled propaganda fueling the fire for these detestable actions by these agents. 

“It was a gun, not a phone.” “She tried to run him over.”

White House aide and Homeland Security Secretary Steven Miller and Kristi Noem labeled both victims as terrorists.

These lies grow and overshadow the truth of these matters, and hide the truly guilty party. 

These agents who kill and harm and hurt because of their title. They hide behind masks while delivering pain and suffering to American citizens. 

It is a choice of life or death. And ICE is actively choosing death.