Alex Pretti’s death in Minneapolis is now the subject of a federal civil rights investigation, the Justice Department announced, expanding the scope of scrutiny beyond agency internal review. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department opened the probe into the shooting death of Pretti, a Minneapolis resident killed Saturday by Border Patrol officers. Blanche spoke during a news conference Friday, saying the Justice Department is examining “everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened.”
The Justice Department did not, in Blanche’s remarks, provide a specific explanation for why the Pretti case warranted a civil-rights probe. Blanche contrasted the decision with the department’s prior handling of another Minneapolis shooting, that of Renee Good, who was killed in a Jan. 7 death involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Blanche said on Friday that the Civil Rights Division does not investigate every law-enforcement shooting and that a probe requires circumstances and facts that “warrant an investigation.”
In parallel, the Department of Homeland Security said the FBI would lead the federal investigation into Pretti’s death. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem disclosed the shift in an interview with Fox News Thursday evening, according to the account provided in the report, after the department had previously said Homeland Security Investigations would head the inquiry. Noem said her department would continue to follow the investigation led by the FBI and provide it information needed to reach a conclusion. She said the agencies involved would work to ensure the public learns the “truth of the situation and how we can go forward and continue to protect the American people,” speaking to Fox host Sean Hannity.
Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Homeland Security Investigations would support the FBI, while Customs and Border Protection—part of DHS—was also conducting an internal investigation. The report said two officers opened fire on Pretti during the shooting. It also said the change in agency leadership was not immediately explained by DHS, and the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The reporting further noted that it was not immediately clear whether federal authorities would share information and evidence with Minnesota state investigators, which have so far been frozen out of the federal investigation.
The administration’s narrative about what preceded the shooting has been contested, with the reporting describing videos that contradicted earlier claims from Homeland Security officials. In the same Fox interview, Noem appeared to distance herself from statements she made shortly after the shooting, claiming Pretti had brandished a handgun and aggressively approached officers. The report said multiple videos that emerged afterward showed Pretti, described as an intensive care nurse, holding only a mobile phone as officers tackled him to the ground. The videos described in the report also said officers removed a handgun from the back of Pretti’s pants as shots began.
The reporting also said the videos showed that Pretti had a state permit to carry a concealed firearm and that, at no point, did he appear to reach for it. Two other videos emerged depicting a separate altercation between Pretti and federal immigration officers 11 days before his death, the report said. The Jan. 13 videos described Pretti yelling at federal vehicles, appearing to spit, and kicking out a taillight before a struggle in which he was forced to the ground and his winter coat came off. The report said Pretti either broke free or officers let him go and he ran away.
When he turned his back to the camera in the earlier videos, the report said what appeared to be a handgun was visible in his waistband, but it said the videos did not show Pretti reaching for the gun and that it was not clear whether federal agents saw it. Pretti’s family attorney, Steve Schleicher, said Wednesday that the earlier altercation did not justify the later shooting.
The report also described President Donald Trump’s reaction to the earlier video evidence, including a post on his Truth Social platform in which Trump suggested the videos undercut a narrative that Pretti was a peaceful protester. In the post, Trump characterized the episode depicted in the video, while also describing the ICE officer as calm. Schleicher said the family’s focus was on a fair and impartial investigation that examines the facts around Pretti’s death.