Videos contradict federal account in fatal Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti; judge orders evidence preserved
MINNEAPOLIS — Senior Trump administration officials on Sunday defended the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, even as bystander videos reviewed by Reuters appeared to undercut their account and deepen tensions with local authorities.
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Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse who had a license to carry a firearm, was shot and killed Saturday during a federal operation that drew protesters and bystanders in frigid, snowy conditions. It was the second fatal shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis this month, following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said agents fired in self-defense after Pretti assaulted officers and obstructed a federal operation. “The victims are border patrol agents,” Bovino said on CNN. “Law enforcement doesn’t assault anyone.” Noem told Fox News that Pretti “impeded a law enforcement operation,” calling it a felony, and said he “became aggressive and resisted” when agents tried to disengage him.
But videos from the scene verified by Reuters show Pretti holding a phone, not a gun, as he moves to assist two women who had been shoved by an agent. One agent pepper sprays Pretti before several agents tackle him to the ground. The footage appears to show an agent removing a handgun from Pretti and stepping away. Moments later, another officer points a weapon at Pretti’s back and fires four times; additional shots follow.
Darius Reeves, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office head in Baltimore, said the team’s response in the videos suggested poor communication. “It’s clear no one is communicating to me,” he told Reuters, adding that an officer seemed to have taken possession of Pretti’s gun before shots were fired. “They’re looking around, trying to figure out where the shots came from.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said on CBS that “the videos speak for themselves” and called the administration’s characterizations “deeply disturbing.” He said he had seen no evidence that Pretti brandished a weapon.
The shooting intensified friction between federal officials and local authorities, who said they have been barred from participating in the federal investigation. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., urged the administration to withdraw federal agents from Minneapolis, calling the shooting “simply horrific” and saying the surge of federal personnel in the city was “out of control and out of balance.”
Saturday night, a U.S. district judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal officials from destroying or altering evidence related to Pretti’s shooting, following a lawsuit by Minnesota’s attorney general, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. A full hearing is set for Monday. Separately, lawyers representing protesters asked an appeals court to reinstate a lower-court order restricting violent retaliation by federal agents, citing the likelihood of larger demonstrations.
The site of the shooting was calm Sunday morning, with residents placing candles and flowers at a makeshift memorial. A woman in nursing scrubs who said she worked with Pretti wept as she described him. “He was caring and he was kind. None of this makes any sense,” she said, declining to provide her name out of fear of retaliation.
Pretti’s death comes amid broader protests in Minneapolis and rallies in other cities since the administration began deploying immigration agents and National Guard troops last year. The White House has defended those operations as necessary to enforce immigration laws and reduce crime. In Good’s case earlier this month, officials said she tried to ram an agent with her car; bystander video reviewed by observers appears to show her attempting to steer away when she was shot.
As investigations proceed, the videos of Pretti’s final moments — and the stark gap between federal statements and the footage — are likely to shape the legal and political fallout in a city still grappling with the role of federal force in local policing.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
