A US immigration officer shot and killed a man on Saturday in Minneapolis: Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse who had protested against US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city.
An angry crowd gathered, and protesters clashed with federal immigration officers, who wielded batons and deployed flash bangs. Family members later identified the man.
While the incident has been widely denounced as a case of excessive force carried out by untrained federal officers, the Trump administration said it was a case of an armed man provoking violence.
Videos of the fatal shooting have quickly emerged. The Associated Press reviewed multiple bystander videos that show a Border Patrol agent shooting and killing Alex Pretti after a roughly 30-second scuffle around 9am on Saturday.
The videos appear to contradict statements by the Trump administration, which said the shots were fired “defensively” against Pretti as he “approached” them with a gun.
In the videos, Pretti is seen with only a phone in his hand. During the scuffle, “gun, gun” is heard, and an officer appears to pull a handgun from Pretti’s waist area and begins moving away. As that happens, a first shot is fired by a Border Patrol officer. There’s a slight pause, and then the same officer fires several more times into Pretti’s back.
Afterwards, authorities said Pretti had a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. He was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who said he watched one of the videos, said he saw “more than six masked agents pummelling one of our constituents, shooting him to death”. Frey has said Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the capital city of the US state of Minnesota, are being “invaded” by the administration’s largest immigration crackdown, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti attacked officers, and US Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said Pretti wanted to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”. In posts on X, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called Pretti “a would-be assassin”.
It is the second fatal shooting in Minneapolis by federal immigration authorities this month. The first, on January 7, was also captured on video: the killing of 37-year-old Renee Good by a shot to the head in front of a family member.
Saturday’s shooting occurred when officers were pursuing a man who Bovino said was in the country illegally and wanted for domestic assault. Protesters routinely try to disrupt such operations, and they sounded high-pitched whistles, honked horns and yelled at officers.
Among them was Pretti. At one point, in a video obtained by the Associated Press, Pretti is standing in the street and holding up his phone. He is face to face with an officer in a tactical vest, who places his hand on Pretti and pushes him towards the pavement.
Pretti is talking to the officer, though it is not clear what he is saying.
The video shows protesters wandering in and out of the street as officers persist in trying to keep them at bay. One protester is put in handcuffs. Some officers are carrying pepper spray canisters.
Pretti comes in again when the video shows an officer wearing tactical gear shoving a protester. The protester, who is wearing a skirt over black tights and holding a water bottle, reaches out for Pretti.
The same officer shoves Pretti in his chest, leading Pretti and the other protester to stumble backwards.
A different video then shows Pretti moving towards another protester, who falls over after being shoved by the same officer. Pretti moves between the protester and the officer, reaching his arms out towards the officer.
The officer deploys pepper spray, and Pretti raises his hand and turns his face. The officer grabs Pretti’s hand to bring it behind his back, deploys the pepper spray canister again and then pushes Pretti away.
Seconds later, at least a half-dozen federal officers surround Pretti, who is wrestled to the ground and hit several times. Several agents try to bring Pretti’s arms behind his back, and he struggles.
Videos show an officer, who is hovering over the scuffle with his right hand on Pretti’s back, backing away from the group with what appears to be a gun in his right hand just before the first shot.
Someone shouts “gun, gun”. It is not clear if that is a reference to the weapon authorities say Pretti had.
Then the first shot is heard. Pretti slumps to the ground. Videos show the officers backing away, some with guns drawn. More shots are fired.
The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti was shot after he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a gun. Officials did not say if Pretti brandished the weapon or kept it hidden.
An agency statement said officers fired “defensive shots” after Pretti “violently resisted” officers that tried to disarm him.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz expressed dismay at the characterisation.
“I’ve seen the videos, from several angles, and it’s sickening,” he said.
