A day after more than 10,000 people braved icy winds and a severe winter storm to protest against the immigration crackdown in Minnesota and the killing of a US citizen by federal agents weeks earlier, another man was shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on Saturday.
The man has been identified as 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, and a US citizen.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said police believe the man was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.” The officer who shot the man is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials said.
In a video obtained by an American news agency, an officer can be seen shoving a person who is wearing a brown jacket, skirt and black tights and carrying a water bottle. That person can then be seen reaching out for a man and the two link up, embracing. The man, wearing a brown jacket and black hat, seems to be holding his phone up toward the officer.
The same officer shoves the man in his chest and the two, still embracing, fall back. The video then shifts to a different part of the street, and then comes back to the two individuals unlinking from each other. The video shifts focus again and then shows three officers surrounding the man.
Soon, at least seven officers surround the man – one is on the man’s back and another, who appears to have a cannister in his hand, strikes a blow to the man’s chest. Several officers try to bring the man’s arms behind his back as he appears to resist. As they pull his arms, his face is briefly visible on camera. The officer with the cannister strikes the man near his head several times.
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A shot rings out, but with officers surrounding the man, it’s not clear from where the shot came. Multiple officers back off of the man after the shot. More shots are heard. Officers back away and the man lies motionless on the street.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement that federal officers were conducting an operation as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and fired “defensive shots” after a man with a handgun approached them and “violently resisted” when officers tried to disarm him.
Minnesota Democratic Gov Tim Walz said he had been in contact with the White House after the shooting and urged President Donald Trump to end what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.
Police chief O’Hara appealed for calm, both from the public and from federal law enforcement. “Our demand today is for those federal agencies that are operating in our city to do so with the same discipline, humanity and integrity that effective law enforcement in this country demands,” he said. “We urge everyone to remain peaceful.”
The shooting happened amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities since the January 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed when an ICE officer fired into her vehicle. Saturday’s shooting unfolded just over a mile away from where Good was shot.
Family members say Pretti was an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration who cared deeply about people and was upset by Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city. He had also participated in protests following the killing of Renee Good.
Pretti was an avid outdoorsman who loved getting in adventures with Joule, his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog who also recently died, his family said.
“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,” said Michael Pretti, Alex’s father. “He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others.”
Pretti was a US citizen, born in Illinois. Like Good, court records showed he had no criminal record and his family said he had never had any interactions with law enforcement beyond a couple of traffic tickets.
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