Videos have surfaced showing a previous confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal agents eleven days before the ICU nurse was fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis.
Previous Confrontation with ICE Agents Revealed
Approximately two minutes of video, published Wednesday by the News Movement, depicts an incident on January 13th in Minneapolis where officers appeared to subdue Mr. Pretti during protests against federal law enforcement actions in the city.
The footage shows Mr. Pretti yelling at agents in an unmarked vehicle and kicking the vehicle’s tail light as it drove away. A heavily armed agent then exited the car and tackled Mr. Pretti to the ground, surrounded by other officers.
Mr. Pretti appeared to break free and remained at the scene as the agents departed. The video shows officers pulling off Mr. Pretti’s coat, revealing what appeared to be a gun in his waistband. A family representative confirmed the footage shows Mr. Pretti, who reportedly had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, and that he did not touch the weapon during or after the altercation.
Steve Schleicher, an attorney representing Mr. Pretti’s family, stated, “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.”
Family representatives stated that Mr. Pretti sustained injuries during the incident but did not seek medical attention. A bystander video published by the Minnesota Star Tribune also shows officers tackling Mr. Pretti. Witness Max Shapiro told the newspaper, “He got slammed to the ground pretty hard.” Shapiro’s footage concludes with him asking Mr. Pretti if he was okay, to which Mr. Pretti responded, “I’m OK. Are we all OK? Are we all safe?”
A third video, posted to YouTube the day of the incident, captured the widespread anger surrounding the immigration enforcement operation, with sounds of car horns and whistles alerting neighbors to the presence of federal agents.
The confrontation occurred four blocks from where Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer the previous week. During the incident, agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd while holding Mr. Pretti down, with other residents gathering and yelling at the officers.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated Wednesday night that they were reviewing the footage. Sahan Journal reported that over 100 people had gathered to protest ICE’s presence in the neighborhood on the day of the incident.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, when asked about the footage at a CNN town hall, said he did not consider it relevant to Mr. Pretti’s fatal shooting eleven days later, stating, “I think we should be talking about the circumstances that actually led to the killing and what took place and those circumstances.”
Officials from the Trump administration had initially claimed Mr. Pretti was “brandishing” a gun and intended to “massacre” officers, claims contradicted by video showing him holding a phone. Mr. Pretti’s family responded with a statement calling the administration’s claims “sickening lies” and stating, “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly Ice thugs.”
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