In January, Border Patrol officers shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Trump administration officials quickly characterized Pretti as an armed threat intent on harming agents. But bystander video obtained by The Associated Press contradicts key elements of that account.
The discrepancy between official statements and documented video raises questions about how federal authorities described the confrontation and what happened in its final moments.
What federal officials said
Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino told reporters that officers “fired defensive shots” after Pretti “approached” with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti “came with a weapon and dozens of rounds of ammunition and attacked” officers, who took action to “defend their lives.” She stated that Pretti “violently resisted” when agents attempted to disarm him. Noem also emphasized that Pretti “wasn’t there to peacefully protest. He was there to perpetuate violence.”
Bovino asserted that Pretti was there “to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” The Department of Homeland Security used the same language in a statement.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Monday that she had “not heard the president characterize” Pretti as a domestic terrorist, as Noem had suggested, or use such words as assassin.
What bystander video recorded
Bystander footage obtained by The Associated Press presents a different sequence of events. In the moments before the shooting, Pretti can be seen holding only a phone. No footage has been made public that appears to show him brandishing a weapon before or during the confrontation.
Video shows Pretti stepping in after an immigration officer shoved a woman. Pretti appears to be holding his phone and moves between the two, reaching his hands out toward the officer. The officer deploys pepper spray. Pretti is seen turning his face away and raising an empty hand. The officer grabs Pretti’s hand to bring it behind his back and deploys pepper spray again.
Officers then grab Pretti and force him to the ground. An officer holding a canister strikes him several times. Video shows an officer pulling a handgun from Pretti’s waist area and moving away. Then the first shot is fired. After a slight pause, the same officer fires several more times into Pretti’s back. Multiple officers back off. Within seconds, Pretti is motionless on the street.
Use-of-force experts told The Associated Press that the bystander video undermined federal authorities’ claim that Pretti approached with a firearm and that the officer opened fire defensively.
Licensing, context, and Trump’s response
Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon. He was one of many protesters on the street that morning, holding phones and apparently recording officer activity.
The shooting occurred while officers were on a commercial street pursuing a man in the country illegally and wanted for domestic assault, according to Bovino.
Trump said on social media that Democrats had encouraged people to obstruct law enforcement operations and blamed the incident on “Democrat ensued chaos.” He accused Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of “inciting Insurrection.”
Walz responded by stating: “We want calm and peace and normalcy back to our lives. They want chaos. We cannot and we will not give them what they want by meeting violence with violence.”
Three federal investigations are examining the circumstances of Pretti’s death.