- Federal agents fatally shot US citizen Alex Pretti during a Minneapolis immigration crackdown
- A video shows agents wrestling Pretti, disarming him of a handgun before firing about 10 shots
- Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon and appeared disarmed when shot by agents
A new video has emerged on social media showing the moment when federal agents fatally shot US citizen Alex Pretti amid the ongoing mass immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, which appears at odds with the Department of Homeland Security's claims about the killing. The clip, which is being widely shared on social media, purportedly showed federal agents who were wrestling with Pretti on the ground secured a handgun he was carrying before they fatally shot him.
NDTV could not independently verify the video, which was also analysed by several American publications, including CNN and The Washington Post.
The video, likely shot on a phone by bystanders, showed as many as eight agents attempting to detain Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse. During the scuffle, one agent appeared to disarm him after discovering he was carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, having removed it from his waistband. Within seconds, the first of what appeared to be a series of 10 shots was fired.
It is not clear from the clip if the other agents realised Pretti – who, according to local authorities, was licensed to carry a concealed weapon – had been disarmed.
US President Donald Trump's administration has claimed that agents fired "defensively" against Pretti as he approached them.
Another video showed that Pretti, with only a phone in his hand, stepped between an immigration agent and a woman on the street. No footage appears to show him with a weapon.
Contradicting Accounts
But in the hours after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged that Pretti attacked officers, and Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino, the public face of Trump's crackdown, said he wanted to "massacre law enforcement".
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said agents were on Nicollet Avenue conducting a "targeted operation" against another person when they encountered Pretti. "An individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun," the department said in a post on X.
"Fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots," Noem said.
Family's Grief
Pretti was the third US citizen in recent weeks to be shot, and the second to be killed, by federal agents in Minneapolis, which emerged as the epicentre of nationwide upheaval sparked by the Team Trump's immigration crackdown.
Meanwhile, Pretti's family said they were "heartbroken but also very angry" at authorities. Relatives were furious at federal officials' description of the shooting.
"The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper-sprayed," the family statement said. "Please get the truth out about our son."
