MINNEAPOLIS — Newly surfaced video shows 37-year-old Alex Pretti — the ICU nurse fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 — in an altercation with federal immigration officers at a protest on Jan. 13, 11 days before his death.
The footage, published by The News Movement and verified by major outlets including The Associated Press, shows Pretti shouting at federal officers, kicking out the taillight of an unmarked federal vehicle, and being wrestled to the ground by officers during the January protest. At one point, a handgun is briefly visible in his waistband, though the videos do not show him drawing or threatening with it.
Steve Schleicher, attorney for Pretti’s family, said the Jan. 13 incident, in which federal agents forcibly subdued Pretti, “could not justify” the deadly shooting that occurred later in the month. Schleicher and family representatives have condemned government characterizations of Pretti’s actions on Jan. 24.
As TMZ reports:
Inexplicably, after the tense altercation ends and Pretti’s able to get back to his feet, agents just let him go … leaving him on the street corner despite the damage he’s done to the vehicle.
A rep for the Pretti family tells TMZ … they knew about the incident on January 13. The rep says Alex sustained injuries but did not get medical care.
As Pretti pulls away from the agents, you can see the butt of a handgun in the rear waistband of his pants — just as it was during his fatal encounter with the feds.
On Jan. 24, multiple videos from bystanders show Pretti holding his phone and appearing to film federal agents during a protest when he was tackled to the ground and fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent. Federal officials initially asserted that Pretti approached officers with a weapon and resisted disarmament, prompting defensive shots. However, widely shared footage and news analyses indicate he was holding his phone and not actively brandishing a firearm at the time of the shooting.
About five seconds after another agent shouted that Pretti had a gun, the first officer drew his weapon and fired at close range.
By that point, footage and preliminary DHS findings indicate that Pretti’s gun had already been removed by another agent.
The Department of Homeland Security said it is aware of and reviewing the earlier footage as part of broader scrutiny of the events leading up to Pretti’s killing. Investigations continue amid significant public controversy and protests over federal immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis and beyond.
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