Federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old man in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, less than three weeks after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good and amid an ongoing surge in immigration enforcement action across the city.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA hospital, was identified as the man killed by a Border Patrol agent. The Department of Homeland Security said the agent acted in self-defense after attempting to disarm Pretti, but Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said that account was “nonsense” after reviewing videos of the shooting. “What I see with my eyes and what you’re going to see with your eyes makes that pretty hard to believe,” he said.
Videos from the scene show that Pretti was holding a cellphone, not a gun, when he was shot. An agent can be seen emerging from the scuffle with a gun and turning away from the man when the first shot is fired.
What to know about the shooting:
- DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that agents fired “defensive shots” after “an individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.” McLaughlin said the officers attempted to disarm the subject but the person “violently resisted.”
- Minnesota officials said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry. He had no criminal record.
- Videos from the scene verified by CBS News show that Pretti was holding a phone in his right hand, and nothing in his left, before he was shot. Multiple videos also show a federal agent in a gray jacket reaching into the scuffle empty-handed and emerging with a gun in his right hand, turning away from the man when the first shot is fired, then running across the street as more shots are fired.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called on the Trump administration to pull ICE agents from Minneapolis, characterizing their efforts as an “absolute abomination.”
- Pretti’s family said in a statement that Pretti was “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.” They condemned what they said were “sickening lies told about our son by the administration.” They said he was not holding a gun, but rather a phone, during the encounter with federal agents.
- The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said DHS representatives blocked them from accessing the scene of the shooting, even though the bureau had obtained a judge’s signed search warrant.
- Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he and his office will argue in court on Monday to end the ongoing immigration surge in Minnesota. The City of Minneapolis is also filing a declaration in hopes a judge will issue a temporary restraining order to put a pause on the operation.
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