The government is lying about what happened in Minneapolis last month, and it’s hurting our already-damaged democracy.

Minneapolis citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by federal immigration officers on Jan. 7 and Jan. 24, respectively. Following both incidents, federal officials gave speeches contradicting clear video evidence. To maintain a healthy society, a nation’s citizens need to trust their leaders to communicate honestly — but the government’s response to the Minneapolis conflict is eroding that trust.

Footage of Pretti’s shooting, taken by Kayla Schultz, shows him helping a woman up after she had been pushed down by a federal agent. Pretti was then forced to the ground, pepper-sprayed in the face and beaten face-down by several federal agents. One agent pulled Pretti’s gun from his waistband and walked away. Pretti, then disarmed, was promptly shot ten times in the back.

In a speech following Pretti’s death Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, claimed the shooting was in self defense. Further, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller alleged that Pretti was a domestic terrorist in an X post on Jan. 24. Fifteen minutes later, he called Pretti a “would-be assassin” in response to a video of Pretti being tackled to the ground. 

After the killing, President Donald Trump denounced Pretti for carrying a weapon to a protest. “I don’t like that he had a gun,” he said in an ABC News interview on Jan. 27. 

Former Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino’s response to the shooting was no better. In a speech following the incident, he alleged that Pretti “approached Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and “violently resisted” disarmament. 

Anyone with eyes can see that Bovino is lying to our faces, as these statements contradict several video accounts of the shooting. Pretti was armed, but according to CBS, he had a concealed-carry license and never reached for his gun. 

Eleven days earlier, Noem delivered a speech after the shooting of Good, a mother who was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. According to CNN, Noem claimed that Good tried to weaponize her vehicle against Ross, and on Jan. 7, Trump claimed on Truth Social that Good “violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE Officer.” 

Good’s situation mirrors that of Pretti — government officials are willfully distorting the circumstances of their deaths. 

Multi-angle footage shows that Good’s car was turned away from Ross. According to an article published on Jan. 10 by the Minnesota Star Tribune Ross and other agents had ordered her to get out of the car; Good was clearly attempting to escape and was executed for it.

By lying to American citizens about these shootings, officials are violating our trust and putting the health of our nation in peril.

“[Pretti’s shooting] was a blatant violation of our constitutional rights,” said studio arts major Elizabeth Barott. “[It] definitely eroded trust in all our law enforcement agencies.” 

Political science professor Sara Rushing echoed this sentiment. “Trust in government is highly at risk right now, and I think it’s really important for a flourishing democracy,” she said. 

The response to this event also highlights a double standard set by Trump. According to the aforementioned ABC article, several Trump supporters were charged for carrying firearms to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. At the start of his second term, Trump pardoned all of them, calling their sentences “ridiculous and excessive.” 

Further, conservative activist Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two protestors and injured one with an AR-15 at a 2020 protest in Wisconsin. He was acquitted by a jury within the year and invited to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. 

“He’s a really good young man,” Trump said in another interview according to NBC. Meanwhile, Pretti only held a cell phone in his hand. This double standard only proves that Trump will lie to the American people to save face. 

The National Rifle Association (NRA), a gun-rights advocacy group, pointed out the Trump administration’s hypocrisy, arguing that Pretti was not to blame for carrying a gun to a protest. In an X post made on Jan. 25, the NRA reinforced its belief that any citizen has the right to carry a weapon wherever it is legal to do so. 

“Thousands of law-abiding Americans do this every day,” the organization wrote. 

Chemical engineering major Sam Skidmore agreed. “That’s just 2nd Amendment rights,” he said.

The U.S. was founded on the rights to due process and to bear arms. The Minneapolis conflict shows us that these rights are being violated. 

If a licensed citizen is faulted for exercising his rights as an American and a mother is blamed for her own murder while trying to escape an armed officer, the founding principles of our country are in question.