WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Pretti was forcefully taken to the ground by federal immigration agents after kicking out the tail light of their vehicle during a Minneapolis protest 11 days before he was shot and killed by Border Patrol officers, videos that emerged Wednesday show.
The Jan. 13 scuffle was captured in a pair of videos that show Pretti shouting an expletive at the federal officers and struggling with them. His winter coat comes off when he’s on the ground and he either breaks free or the officers let him go and he scurries away.
When he turns his back to the camera, what appears to be a handgun is visible in his waistband. At no point do the videos show Pretti reaching for the gun and it is unclear whether the federal agents saw it.
A person with knowledge of the incident confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in the videos is Pretti and that he had told his family of the confrontation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters sensitive to the family.
The new videos immediately rekindled the national debate about the death of Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, posted one of the videos on X and commented, “Just a peaceful legal observer.”
Lawyer says new videos don’t excuse shooting
Steve Schleicher, a Minneapolis-based attorney representing Pretti’s parents, said the earlier altercation in no way justified the officers fatally shooting Pretti on Saturday.
“A week before Alex was gunned down in the street — despite posing no threat to anyone — he was violently assaulted by a group of (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents,” Schleicher said in a written statement. “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.”
Homeland Security Investigations is reviewing the new videos and incident, a spokesperson with the department said. It’s not known if any of the officers involved were also there when Pretti was killed.
Last weekend’s fatal shooting occurred on a sidewalk next to the street where Pretti had been videoing immigration officers. In video taken by bystanders, one officer pushes him, then Pretti is taken to the ground and a half-dozen officers try to subdue him. One spots Pretti’s weapon, which he was licensed to carry, and shouts, “He’s got a gun.” Two officers then open fire and Pretti is killed.
Trump administration officials quickly reacted, saying Pretti had approached officers with a gun and attacked them.
The altercation and shooting was captured in multiple videos and showed Pretti never brandished his gun and didn’t assault any officer. He was holding his phone when he was shot in the back while on the ground.
The new videos from the week prior to the shooting came from two sources. One, published by the Minnesota Star Tribune and later obtained by the AP, was taken by Max Shapiro, a witness who filmed the interaction. The second was by a crew for The News Movement, an online media outlet.
Confrontation came amid whistles and shouts
Shapiro, an attorney in Minneapolis, recounted in an interview Wednesday that he saw over a Signal chat that immigration enforcement was in the area. Driving over, Shapiro parked half a block from officers and got out.
“The observers were pretty distraught and screaming,” he said, adding that the officers began trying to get the crowd back, but their directives were largely drowned out in whistles and shouts.
The video from The News Movement shows Pretti wearing glasses, a dark baseball cap and a winter coat yelling at federal vehicles, at one point appearing to spit and yell “trash” toward the driver’s side of a dark Ford Expedition with flashing red and blue lights.
As the vehicle pulls slowly away, Pretti kicks at the taillight and then delivers a second kick that shatters the red plastic and leaves the taillight dangling.
Shapiro began filming on his phone just after Pretti kicked out the taillight.
Both videos capture the rear door of the SUV swinging open and an immigration officer wearing a gas mask and helmet getting out. He starts walking toward Pretti.
The officer grabs Pretti’s shirt at his chest, pulling him back toward the vehicle as Pretti’s arms flail. The officer pulls Pretti back onto the street and down onto his knees, falling over Pretti in the scuffle.
Other masked and helmeted officers surround them and try to subdue Pretti. Others stand guard between them and a screaming crowd, before the officers set off tear gas canisters and withdraw.
After Pretti stumbles away, Shapiro walks over and hugs Pretti, asking if he is OK.
Pretti affirms that he is, before turning to others involved in the melee and asking: “Are we all OK? Are we all safe?”
Shapiro said he understands some will use the videos to try to vilify Pretti, but that he seemed like someone who cared deeply about what was happening to the people caught up in the Trump Administration’s deportation push.
“I’m no immigration policy expert,” Shapiro said. “But there has to be a better way to go about this.”
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Bedayn reported from Denver.
