A Roman Catholic priest who worked with Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by federal agents in Minnesota, said he was known for his “kindness” and disputed the narrative of top Trump administration officials that he was a violent “domestic terrorist” and would-be assassin.

Pretti, an ICU nurse, was shot while filming federal officers on a Minneapolis street on Jan. 24.

The incident marked the second shooting death by federal agents in the city. Renee Good was shot and killed on Jan. 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

Father Harry Tasto, who worked with Pretti for 10 years when he worked as a chaplain at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, spoke about the nurse’s life during a Sunday evening Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary broadcasted by WCCO.

“The archbishop has requested that we remember him [Pretti] and his family tonight in our worship here,” Tasto said.

“He was known for his kindness and gentleness to patients,” Tasto said. “So don’t, please, pay any attention to the vilification from our national leaders.”

Within hours of the shooting, Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, posted on social media that Pretti was “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance reposted Miller’s assessment and blamed the incident on “engineered chaos” caused by “far-left agitators.”

In a post to X, Miller also called Pretti a “domestic terrorist.” Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said during a press conference that Pretti was attempting to “massacre law enforcement.”

As investigations continue, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “the administration is reviewing everything in respect to the shooting.”

Calls for prayer

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked for prayers for Pretti, for his parents, and for his loved ones after his death.

“While we rightly thirst for God’s justice and hunger for his peace, this will not be achieved until we are able to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God,” Hebda wrote.

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reminded the faithful that “peace is built on respect for people” in a Jan. 25 statement.

Pope Leo XIV “reminds us that ‘the Gospel must be proclaimed and lived in every setting, serving as a leaven of fraternity and peace among all individuals, cultures, religions, and peoples,’” he said.

Jesuit Father R.J. Fichtinger, pastor at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in St. Paul, Minnesota, said at Mass Jan. 24: “Actions that are against the moral law of God — we can rightly criticize. The killings in the last several weeks can be criticized.”

“But we have to hold on to a core tenet … that is incredibly difficult to sit with sometimes,” Fichtinger said. “That each and every person is created in the image and likeness of God. Unless we hold that fundamental principle as our anchor, we risk becoming as divorced from reality as anyone else.”