Mac Deford, candidate for Congress in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, issued the following statement Saturday after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen, during a protest in Minneapolis.
“He wasn’t storming a building. He wasn’t attacking anyone,” Deford said. “He was exercising his First Amendment rights and came to the aid of another American who had been knocked to the pavement. That is not a crime in this country. That is citizenship.”
Deford, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and former federal law enforcement officer, said the rush by government officials to justify the killing—before a full and transparent accounting of the facts—should alarm every American.
“I wore a uniform for this country and carried a badge for this country,” Deford said. “We are trained to preserve life, to de-escalate, and to protect constitutional rights—not to murder Americans and then gaslight the American people with a narrative that defies what we saw in the videos. When a government rushes to judgment, rushes to kill, and then rushes to control the story with lies while blaming the innocent, something has gone terribly wrong.”
He also condemned the Trump Administration’s expanding use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in what he described as militarized domestic operations.
“Donald Trump promised to use ICE to deport violent criminals,” Deford said. “Instead, we’re seeing a military-styled police force deployed against Americans, engaging in violent tactics that violate the constitutional values we the people hold dear.”
Deford expressed grave concern over what he called Congress’s silence.
“Congress should be in session right now. Not next week. Not after the headlines fade. Right now,” he said. “When the executive branch kills an American citizen, and Congress doesn’t immediately hit the brakes, that’s how republics fail.”
He accused members of Congress who rushed to defend the shooting of abandoning their oath.
“If you’re in Congress and you’re justifying this killing, you need to re-evaluate your loyalties. You didn’t swear an oath to an administration,” Deford said. “You swore an oath to the Constitution. Too many people in Washington are choosing power over principle, and Americans are paying the price.”
Deford said Pretti’s death is a watershed moment.
“Alex Pretti wasn’t a criminal or violent, domestic terrorist. He was a human being—a nurse, a son, a neighbor, an American—who showed up every day to care for veterans,” he said. “If that kind of American can be killed in the street by the government for protesting and helping another person, then none of us should pretend this can’t happen again.”
He concluded by calling for immediate action.
“This isn’t about left or right, Democrat or Republican,” Deford said. “It’s about whether the government still answers to the people and upholds our Constitutional principles. Congress has the power to investigate and to stop this. But if they refuse to use it, they are telling the country they are willing to let this become normal, sliding into an even darker place. We have faced moments like this before, and leadership matters most during times like these. We must demand moral clarity from our leaders now, expecting the truth, demanding accountability without surrendering the Constitution and our rights, all while grieving the loss of an innocent American – Alex Pretti.”