After at least one federal agent fatally shot Veterans Affairs ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in late January 2026, a social media post attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump began to make the rounds in which Trump allegedly said "ONLY CRIMINALS CARRY GUNS ON OUR STREETS" as a form of justification for federal officers killing Pretti.
For example, writer and podcast host Kara Swisher shared on Threads what appeared to be a screenshot of the supposed post (archived):
(Threads user @karaswisher)
Other users on X and Facebook shared the same screenshot, with the same number of replies, shares and likes. In addition, Snopes readers emailed and searched the website seeking confirmation that Trump had posted these words on his Truth Social network.
The supposed screenshot was fake. Snopes could find no evidence Trump had written such a post. Instead, everything indicated it was a fabrication.
Various internet searches showed no reputable news outlet had reported that Trump said these words. A search of his Truth Social posts and an independent archive of them did not reveal any such post.
Had the post been real, users likely would have shared multiple screenshots of it, with different numbers of replies, shares and likes.
However, The Wall Street Journal (archived) reported that Trump did criticize Pretti during an interview, saying: "I don't like it when somebody goes into a protest, and he's got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn't play good either."
For further reading, we've covered a number of rumors surrounding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shooting Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026, including the analysis of an image purportedly showing her car was aimed at the agent.