Two Border Patrol agents who opened fire following the altercation with Alex Pretti in Minneapolis have been placed on administrative leave, according to reports.
Placing the agents on leave is part of standard procedure as investigations into the 37-year-old’s death continue, the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News.
Video of the fatal incident Saturday showed Pretti facing off with federal agents holding an iPhone then being thrown to the ground and beaten by around six or seven men. A first shot is then fired before at least nine more and Pretti falls still.
It is not clear from the footage which agent fired the first shot, or the ones that ultimately killed Pretti.
In a sworn declaration as part of a lawsuit against ICE, a pediatric doctor who attended to Pretti after he had been shot said he had at least three bullet holes in is back, as well as several others on different parts of his body.
The Independent has contacted the DHS for further information.
Pretti’s death was the second fatal shooting of a protester in Minneapolis in less than three weeks, after Renee Nicole Good was shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7 – sparking further protests and ramping up tensions in the city.
In recent days the Trump administration appears to have climbed down somewhat from its aggressive assertions that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who intended to “assassinate” the agents, including the removal of Border Patrol “commander at large” Gregory Bovino from the city.
Republicans and second amendment advocates, including the National Rifle Association have also pushed back on Donald Trump’s assertion that Pretti “shouldn’t have been carrying a gun” while attending the protest.
Federal officials initially accused him of “brandishing” his gun at agents, though a new preliminary review by a DHS internal watchdog made no mention of Pretti brandishing a weapon.
In the days after the shooting, some Republicans have ripped the nurse for carrying a gun, despite him having a permit for it, prompting the response from the NRA, America’s biggest gun lobby.
“The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be,” the gun lobby wrote on X following Trump’s remarks, though didn’t mention the president by name.
The NRA also slammed a Justice Department official appointed by the Trump administration who weighed in on the shooting just hours after it happened.
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, wrote on X: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you. Don’t do it!”
The NRA replied directly to his post, calling his sentiment “dangerous and wrong.”
