Federal agents’ killing of another protester roils Minneapolis
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- Federal immigration officers fatally shot a man in Minneapolis during the intensified federal immigration enforcement operations in the state.
- The man killed was identified by his parents as Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse.
- Pretti’s family issued a statement accusing federal officials of ‘lies’ about the shooting, which they call ‘reprehensible and disgusting.’
MINNEAPOLIS — Federal immigration officers shot and killed a man Saturday in Minneapolis, drawing hundreds of protesters onto frigidly cold streets in a city already shaken by another fatal shooting weeks earlier.
Family members identified the man who was killed as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at a VA hospital who had protested President Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city. After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and protesters clashed with federal immigration officers, who wielded batons and deployed flash-bangs.
The Minnesota National Guard was assisting local police amid growing protests at the direction of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, officials said. Guard troops were going to the shooting site and a federal building where officials have squared off with protesters daily.
Information about what led up to the shooting was limited, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that federal officers were conducting an operation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and fired “defensive shots” after a man with a handgun approached them and “violently resisted” when officers tried to disarm him.
In bystander videos of the shooting that emerged soon after, Pretti is seen with a phone in his hand but none appears to show him with a visible weapon.
O’Hara said police believe the man was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference later Saturday that Pretti had shown up to “impede a law enforcement operation.” She questioned why he was armed, as she alleged, but did not offer details about whether Pretti drew a weapon or brandished it at officers.
The officer who shot the man is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials said.
Trump, writing on social media, lashed out at Minnesota’s governor and the Minneapolis mayor, both Democrats.
The Republican president shared images of the gun that immigration officials allege was recovered at the scene of the shooting, and said: “What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers?”
Trump said the governor and mayor “are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric.”
Pretti was shot just over a mile from where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7, sparking widespread protests.
Pretti’s family released a statement Saturday evening saying they are “heartbroken but also very angry,” and calling him a kindhearted soul who wanted to make a difference in the world through his work as a nurse.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. 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 statement said. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
Video shows officers, man who was shot
In a bystander video obtained by the Associated Press, protesters can be heard blowing whistles and shouting profanities at agents on Nicollet Avenue.
The video shows an officer shoving a person who is wearing a brown jacket, skirt and black tights and carrying a water bottle. That person reaches out for a man and the two link up, embracing. The man, wearing a brown jacket and black hat, seems to be holding his phone up toward the officer.
The same officer shoves the man in his chest, and the two, still embracing, fall back.
The video then shifts to a different part of the street and comes back to the two individuals separating after their embrace. The video shifts focus again and shows three officers surrounding the man.
Soon at least seven officers surround the man. One is on the man’s back and another who appears to have a canister in his hand strikes a blow to the man’s chest. Several officers try to bring the man’s arms behind his back as he appears to resist. As they pull his arms, his face is briefly visible on camera. The officer with the canister strikes the man near his head several times.
A shot is heard, but with officers surrounding the man, it’s not clear from where the shot came. Multiple officers back away from the man after the shot. More shots are heard. Officers back away and the man lies motionless on the street.
The police chief appealed for calm, both from the public and federal law enforcement.
“Our demand today is for those federal agencies that are operating in our city to do so with the same discipline, humanity and integrity that effective law enforcement in this country demands,” O’Hara said. “We urge everyone to remain peaceful. We recognize that there is a lot of anger and a lot of questions around what has happened, but we need people to remain peaceful.”
Gregory Bovino of U.S. Border Patrol, who has commanded the administration’s big-city immigration campaign, said the officer who shot the man had extensive training as a range safety officer and in using less-lethal force.
“This is only the latest attack on law enforcement. Across the country, the men and women of DHS have been attacked, shot at,” he said.
Walz said that he had no confidence in federal officials and that the state would lead the investigation into the latest fatal shooting.
Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said during a news conference that federal officers blocked his agency from the shooting scene, and when they returned with a signed judicial warrant, they were still blocked.
Protests continue
Protesters continued to converge at the scene of the shooting despite dangerously cold weather.
At Saturday midday, the worst of an extreme cold wave was over, but the temperature was still 6 degrees below zero. The Arctic blast hadn’t deterred thousands of protesters from marching in downtown Minneapolis on Friday afternoon to call for ICE to leave Minnesota.
After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home. One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: “Boo hoo.” Agents elsewhere shoved a yelling protester into a car.
Protesters dragged garbage dumpsters from alleyways to block the streets, and people who gathered chanted, “ICE out now.”
Said Minneapolis resident Josh Koskie: “They’re killing my neighbors!”
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Brook, Karnowski and Santana write for the Associated Press. Brook and Karnowski reported from Minneapolis, Santana from Washington. AP writers Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan and Sarah Raza in Minnesota, Jim Mustian in New York and Michael Catalini in New Jersey contributed to this report.
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