Trump And Vance Blame Local Police For Shooting: 'The Mayor And The Governor Called Them Off?'

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance laid blame on Minnesota officials and local law enforcement following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old US citizen in Minneapolis at the hands of federal officers Saturday morning, suggesting local police should have been there to protect those officers. 

Protests erupted in Minneapolis on Saturday morning after multiple videos captured federal officers wrestling a man — later identified as registered nurse Alex Pretti — to the ground before firing multiple shots, killing him. 

The Department of Homeland Security justified the killing as an officer’s act of self-defense, alleging Pretti was armed and “violently resisted.” 

Commander-at-large for US Border Patrol Greg Bovino accused Pretti of “wanting to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” during a Saturday press conference. It remains unclear from the videos whether Pretti was reaching for a weapon.

Trump took to Truth Social following the shooting to direct blame on state and local authorities, claiming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called off local police and prevented them from protecting the federal officers.

“This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — Not an easy thing to do!” the president wrote.

Bovino had also previously called out local police for not aiding federal agents with protesters. However, the Minneapolis Police Department said it has “no record of a request from federal agents for assistance,” CBS News reports. 

“The presence of protesters alone is not sufficient reason for MPD to respond where ICE activity is occurring,” a spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department told the outlet.

Trump then defended ICE operations in the state.

“We are there because of massive Monetary Fraud, with Billions of Dollars missing, and Illegal Criminals that were allowed to infiltrate the State through the Democrats’ Open Border Policy,” he wrote.

“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric! Instead, these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States of America,” he continued. “LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB!”

Vance reposted Trump’s remarks on X, also claiming local leaders refused to work with ICE “so that situations on the ground didn’t get out of hand.”