Protester shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis was an ‘American citizen’ and licensed gun owner, city officials say
Federal officials have said Alex Pretti, 37, was threatening federal officers with a handgun and preparing to kill them, but video evidence of his fatal shooting appears to tell a different story
A 37-year-old man is dead after federal agents opened fire on the streets of Minneapolis on Saturday morning, the third shooting by agents that’s taken place this month during the Trump administration’s ongoing Minnesota crackdown.
The victim has been identified by his family as Alex Pretti, a resident of South Minneapolis and an intensive-care nurse.
Federal officials have offered an account of the shooting as an attempted mass attack on law enforcement, though so far little public evidence supports their claims.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the shooting took place around 9am as agents were conducting a “targeted operation” against an “illegal alien wanted for violent assault.”
In the course of the operation, DHS said, a man in possession of a 9mm handgun then approached agents, with what DHS has claimed without additional public evidence was an intent to “massacre law enforcement.” Homeland Security shared an accompanying photo of a tan pistol with an optical sight in its announcement of the shooting.
Trump advisor Stephen Miller alleged Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a press conference on Saturday that the deceased man was an American citizen, whose only previous contact with law enforcement was for traffic violations and that he appeared to be a licensed gun owner.
Brief clips of the encounter that have surfaced on social media do not show Pretti approaching officers with a gun drawn. The footage captures a group of agents wrestling with a man on a city street before at least 10 shots are fired. A video from another angle appears to show Pretti yelling at agents after they push a woman to the ground. The full circumstances that led up to the shooting are not yet known.
The man died as a result of the shooting, O’Hara later confirmed.
“I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a tweet. “Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
During a press conference on Saturday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem alleged that state officials had encouraged community members to impede law enforcement, prompting incidents like today’s shooting. When asked about why federal officials have deemed the shooting an attempted attack, Noem pointed to the gun and ammunition recovered on the scene.
“I don't know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign,” she told reporters. “This is a violent riot when you have someone showing up with weapons and are using them to assault law enforcement officers.”
The Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms, and Minnesota is an open-carry state. It is not a crime to possess a weapon at a protest.
The shooting further escalated tensions that were already high in the city after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good earlier this month. She, too, was 37 years old.
State officials have pushed to investigate Saturday’s shooting, but claim federal officials on the scene blocked them from obtaining evidence, even though they had a warrant.
“We’re in uncharted territory here,” Bureau of Criminal Apprehension superintendent Drew Evans said at a press conference on Saturday. “It’s been a longstanding understanding, both within our state and across the country, that entities like the BCA that conduct 80-plus-percent of officer-involved shooting investigations across the United States are asked to do these investigations of federal agents involved in officer-involved shootings."
Secretary Kristi Noem did not specifically answer a question at a press conference on Saturday about whether state officials were blocked, but suggested the Trump administration was avoiding cooperating with the Walz administration. The White House has criticized the Democrat for fraud in government programs in Minnesota and because local police do not provide back-up to ongoing immigration operaitons.
“Who would trust Gov. Walz at this point?” Noem added.
“We need to partner with people who truly understand that the law is the law.”
Federal officials also alleged blocked state investigators from investigating Good’s killing, according to the BCA. A senior FBI agent and a group of top federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned over alleged pressure from Washington not to pursue an investigation of the agent who shot Good.
After Saturday’s shooting, an angry crowd gathered and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home. One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: “Boo hoo.” Agents elsewhere shoved a yelling protester into a car.
The intersection where the shooting has been blocked off, and Border Patrol agents were on the scene, wielding batons.
More than 2,000 federal officers are being deployed in the state as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration and anti-fraud crackdown in the state.
More than 3,000 people have been arrested as part of the operation since December, according to DHS.
The ongoing mission has been met with heavy protests.
On Friday, police arrested about 100 clergy demonstrating against immigration enforcement at Minnesota’s largest airport, and several thousand gathered in downtown Minneapolis despite Arctic temperatures to protest the crackdown.
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