Multiple videos circulating online show various different angles of the fatal shooting of a man by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, contradicting claims made by federal officials.
The man was identified as 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a local nurse who was on hand to film and protest a federal immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. He was holding a cellphone, apparently filming law enforcement activity, nearly one mile away from where Renee Good was fatally shot by an immigration enforcement agent earlier this month.
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Video footage from one bystander showed Pretti standing in the street recording federal officers with a cell phone. One agent can then be seen approaching another person and pushing them down onto the ground. At that point, Pretti jumps between the agent and the protester and is pepper sprayed in the face. Seconds later, several other officers jump in and attempt to apprehend Pretti and a scuffle ensues. Officers are then seen backing away from him after at least one shot was fired.
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Separate video captured by another bystander showed the same struggle ensue before an officer fired what appears to be four shots on Pretti.
The Department of Homeland Security said that Pretti approached agents with a firearm with two magazines and "violently resisted" when officers attempted to disarm him. Pretti's family has said he owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed firearm. However, the footage only shows Pretti holding what appears to be a cell phone in his hand.
In a sworn declaration filed in federal court, a civilian witness described what they said they observed moments before a federal agent shot and killed Pretti. The witness said they never saw him reach for any weapon.
"An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk," the witness stated. "The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun."
The witness said the situation escalated when an ICE agent shoved one of the observers to the ground and repeatedly sprayed people nearby with pepper spray.
"Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying," the witness states. "More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up."
The witness said multiple agents then forced the man to the ground.
"I didn't see him touch any of them — he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up," the witness states. "I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times."
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A nearby resident who is a licensed pediatrician also submitted a sworn declaration, saying he observed much of the encounter from his apartment and went outside after hearing gunshots to try to render medical aid.
"At first, ICE agents wouldn't let me through. They repeatedly asked for my physician's license, which I obviously didn't have," the doctor states. "But none of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR, and I could tell that the victim was in critical condition."
The doctor said they were eventually allowed to assess Pretti and observed at least three gunshot wounds on his back. After asking agents to turn him onto his back, he said he saw an additional gunshot wound to the upper left chest and another possible gunshot wound to the neck. The doctor said he did not detect a pulse and began CPR until emergency medical crews arrived and took over.
Relatives of Pretti described him as a dedicated intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration, who was compassionate for others and deeply upset over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in his city.
