Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse fatally shot by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, appeared to confront federal agents less than two weeks before his death, newly published video footage shows.
A video published by The News Movement, a digital media company, seemed to show Pretti kicking a government vehicle and being tackled to the ground on a city street January 13.
The BBC reported on Wednesday that the man in the video “has the same coat, facial hair and gait as Alex Pretti and a facial recognition tool suggests a 97% match.” CNN later reported that Pretti’s family confirmed to the outlet that he is the man in the video.
In the two-minute clip, a man can be seen rushing toward a federal vehicle and yelling before kicking out its taillight. He appears to be carrying a gun in his waistband.
An agent then steps out of the vehicle, shoves the man to the ground and receives backup from other agents. Bystanders, some filming and yelling at the federal agents, watch the scene unfold.
“During the altercation, agents fired tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd,” The News Movement narrator says. “They continued to hold the man down before they retreat and he walks away.”
The day before the video was published, sources told CNN that Pretti sustained a broken rib after he was tackled by federal officers roughly a week before he was killed. DHS said it had “no record of this incident.” It’s not clear if the alleged incident is the same one as portrayed in the newly released video.
The clip went viral on social media on Wednesday, with a number of Republican commentators pointing to it as evidence that Pretti was not a peaceful protestor — as many of his defenders have claimed.
Steve Schleicher, an attorney for Pretti’s family, disputed this interpretation, telling The Independent: “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street – despite posing no threat to anyone – he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents. Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.”
The Independent has contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the BBC Press Office for comment.
Pretti, a Minneapolis resident and intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday. It was the third shooting by agents that’s taken place this month during the Trump administration’s ongoing Minnesota crackdown.
Shortly after his death, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller alleged that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement,” and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said he had been “brandishing” a weapon. In contrast, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, claimed that Pretti had been “murdered.”
During a press conference over the weekend, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that the deceased man was a U.S. citizen, whose only previous contact with law enforcement was for traffic violations and that he appeared to be a licensed gun owner.
Clips of the deadly encounter that previously circulated online do not show Pretti approaching officers with a gun drawn. One video shows multiple agents wrestling with a man on a Minneapolis street before nearly a dozen shots are fired. Another shows a man that appears to be Pretti shouting at agents after they shoved a woman to the ground.
A woman who recorded footage of the incident told CNN that the agents who shot Pretti treated his lifeless body “like a rag doll” and made no attempt to provide medical aid.
Pretti’s family described him as a compassionate person who was staunchly opposed to the administration’s immigration crackdown.
“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” Michael Pretti, Alex’s father, told the Associated Press. “He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others.”
The recent surge in immigration enforcement activity — which triggered numerous arrests and widespread protests — has sparked disparate reactions from politicians. Elected officials in Minnesota have accused ICE of reckless behavior and called on federal agents to withdraw from the state. Meanwhile, the White House has claimed it is only enforcing the law and has accused Democrats of inciting anti-law enforcement sentiment.
In recent days, the president has signaled a desire to ease tensions in the state.
On Tuesday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota, though he hedged his comments, insisting: “I don’t think this is a pullback.”
There is widespread public concern about the strategies being implemented by immigration agents. While about half of American voters support the president’s deportations, a sizable majority, 61 percent, believe that the tactics employed by ICE have gone too far, according to a recent Siena University poll.
