Video of Minneapolis shooting appears to undercut Trump administration account of fatal encounter with immigration agents
Video posted online appears to contradict a Trump administration portrayal of a deadly encounter in Minneapolis, where federal immigration agents shot and killed a 37-year-old nurse, Alex Pretti. The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm handgun and “violently resisted” as agents tried to disarm him. Officials did not say whether he had the gun in his hands at the time.
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Clips widely shared by U.S. media, which have not been independently verified, show Pretti holding a phone while filming agents on a snow-lined street, appearing to direct traffic as a woman protester is shoved to the ground by an officer on the sidewalk. Pretti steps between the officer and the woman and is immediately hit in the face with a chemical spray.
The footage shows agents pulling Pretti to the ground, where several officers struggle to detain him on an icy roadway. Seconds later, as Pretti is bent forward on his knees with multiple officers on top of him and another officer appears to reach toward his waist, agents open fire. After an initial volley, officers briefly move back and additional shots are fired. At least 10 gunshots can be heard in the video. A voice in one clip says, “Where’s the gun?” as Pretti lies motionless on the pavement.
Following the shooting, DHS posted on X a photo of a handgun it said was found on Pretti. The department said the episode looked “like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Pretti’s parents, in a statement, called the administration’s account “sickening lies,” insisting the videos show their son with a phone, not a firearm, as he tried to shield the woman who had been pushed. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” they said. “He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed.”
The administration’s initial description did not address key moments depicted in the videos, including the use of chemical spray and the tackle on the icy street preceding the gunfire. DHS has not publicly clarified whether the agents involved were from U.S. Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the parents’ statement referred to ICE, while DHS cited Border Patrol officers in its account.
The conflicting narratives—an official assertion that Pretti posed an imminent lethal threat, and footage suggesting he was unarmed and recording as the confrontation escalated—have intensified scrutiny of the use of force. The videos’ precise timing, vantage points and audible exchanges, including the question about a gun after the shooting, are likely to shape public understanding of what happened in the moments before and after the shots were fired.
As of now, authorities have not addressed the discrepancies between the video evidence circulated online and the department’s statements. DHS has emphasized the recovered handgun; the family maintains Pretti’s hands were visible and empty of a weapon during the confrontation.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
