Videos Show Moments in Which Agents Killed a Man in Minneapolis
Federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident on Saturday morning, prompting renewed protests and clashes in a city where tensions have reached a breaking point after weeks of aggressive federal immigration enforcement. As dusk fell, Minnesota officials deployed the National Guard in an effort to prevent further violence.
Colleagues and a senior law enforcement official identified the man who was shot as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive-care nurse. Videos analyzed by The New York Times appear to contradict the accounts of federal officials, who said Mr. Pretti approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun and the intent to “massacre” them.
Video footage shows Mr. Pretti stepping between a woman and an agent who is pepper spraying her. Other agents then pepper spray Mr. Pretti, who is holding a phone in one hand and nothing in the other. His concealed weapon is found only after he is restrained on the sidewalk, the videos show, and taken from him before the agents opened fire.
Federal officials posted an image of the gun they said Mr. Pretti was carrying, and initially blocked Minnesota law enforcement officers from the shooting scene. Chief Brian O’Hara of the Minneapolis police said Mr. Pretti was an American citizen with no known criminal record, and had a valid firearms permit, allowing him to carry a gun openly.
A colleague of Mr. Pretti, Dimitri Drekonja, said he had worked in the intensive-care unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis. “He was a really great colleague and a really great friend,” Mr. Drekonja said. “The default look on his face was a smile.”
Here’s what we’re covering:
Federal claims: The Trump administration moved swiftly to shift the blame from the federal agents. Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of the president’s Border Patrol operations, said that Mr. Pretti had “wanted to do maximum damage.” Gov. Tim Walz disputed those claims. “Thank God we have video!” he told reporters, adding, “It’s nonsense and it’s lies.” Read more ›
Investigators blocked: Drew Evans, who heads the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said federal agents had barred state investigators from the scene of Saturday’s shooting. Mr. Evans said his agency took the rare step of obtaining a search warrant to access the scene on a public sidewalk, but were stymied. Federal officials eventually left, but state agents were not able to investigate at that point because of the protests.
Self-investigation: Federal authorities said the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE and Border Patrol, would lead the shooting investigation. But the agency’s secretary, Kristi Noem, blamed Mr. Pretti for the encounter in a news conference, labeling him a domestic terrorist. “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,” she said, contradicting video evidence of the encounter.
Minneapolis outrage: Mayor Jacob Frey accused the Trump administration of terrorizing his city. “How many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” he asked. At least two other people have been shot there by federal agents this month, including Renee Good, 37, who was killed on Jan. 7. Officials said they were deploying the National Guard to ensure that protests remain peaceful, as they did when thousands of people took to the streets Friday. Read more ›
“Force of good”: Ruth Anway, another nurse who worked with Mr. Pretti, described him as a passionate colleague and kind friend with a sharp sense of humor. She first met him around 2014 when he was a research assistant at the V.A. hospital, she said, and encouraged him to pursue nursing. “He wanted to be helpful, to help humanity, and have a career that was a force of good in the world,” Ms. Anway said. Read more ›