The standoff between immigration agents and residents demonstrating against the thuggish immigration crackdown in Minneapolis hit another inflection point over the weekend when agents shot and killed a second protester, 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti.

To make matters much worse, members of the Trump administration followed a now-familiar script in response to Pretti’s killing in which they sought to blame him for his own death. 

People protest against immigration enforcement on Sunday in Minneapolis.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters on Saturday in Washington. Noem called shooting victim Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist.”

Citing the fact that Pretti had a handgun, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled him a “domestic terrorist” whose intent was to “kill” and “inflict maximum damage” to the immigration agents who have been busy forcibly throwing immigrant children and their parents to the frozen ground. 

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White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller joined in, calling Pretti a “would-be assassin.”

But bystander videos easily debunked those lies and showed that Pretti, who was shot up to 10 times, never touched or reached for his holstered pistol. Instead, he is seen recording federal agents with his phone and trying to aid other protesters. 

By now, the Trump administration’s lies have become commonplace. On Jan. 7, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed Renee Good by shooting her in the head, Noem said the altercation was “an act of domestic terrorism.” Trump chimed in that the Minnesota mother “ran him (the ICE agent) over” with her minivan. More eyewitness video — thank God for cellphones —........

© San Francisco Chronicle