Witness statements on shooting of Alex Pretti dispute DHS account
Statements from those who witnessed the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent contradict what the Department of Homeland Security and other Trump administration officials say happened. The shooting, which happened on Saturday in Minneapolis, ignited a wave of reaction in a city that has been pulsing with protests for weeks.
Witness statements were added to the federal lawsuit filed over the surge of 3,000 federal immigration agents to Minnesota as part of what the Trump administration calls “Operation Metro Surge.”
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement that said Pretti “approached the agents with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.” In the statement, DHS said agents attempted to disarm the man but he resisted. An agent fired “defensive shots,” the statement said, because he feared for his life.
However, one witness, a Whittier resident, who was standing with Pretti as he filmed law enforcement, said they did not see Pretti reaching for or holding a gun when agents fired. Videos of the shooting circulating on social media, some of which have been independently verified by local and national news outlets, do not show Pretti holding any weapons in his hands, either.
‘They’re not telling the truth’
The Whittier resident said they heard whistles on their way to work and went to check them out.
People were being forced back at the scene, the witness said, and threatened with pepper spray. Pretti stayed in the street and went to help other observers who were shoved to the ground, the witness said. The Whittier resident went closer to the scene recording a video with their phone.
A federal agent pushed an observer to the ground, the witness said, then began pepper-spraying three of them “directly in the face and all over.”
Pretti put his hands above his head, and the agent pepper-sprayed him and pushed him. As Pretti tried to help the woman on the ground, the agent continued to spray him. More agents came over and kept pepper-spraying as well.
” I didn’t see him touch any of them — he wasn’t even turned toward them. It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up,” the witness said.
That’s when, the witness said, agents threw Pretti to the ground.
“Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times,” they said. “I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.”
In the aftermath of the shooting, the witness said, they felt afraid to go home.
“I don’t know what the agents will do when they find me,” the witness said. “I do know that they’re not telling the truth about what happened.”
What a physician saw
A 29-year-old pediatrician was woken Saturday by cars honking and whistling outside. The pediatrician then saw several federal immigration agents and observers yelling at each other.
While the pediatrician saw Pretti yelling at the agents, they said “I did not see him attack the agents or brandish a weapon of any kind.”
The agents shoved Pretti to the ground, the pediatrician said. Four of them pointed guns at him, then shot him six or seven times.
“From what I could see from my apartment, there was absolutely no need for any violence, let alone lethal force by multiple officers,” the pediatrician said.
After seeing this, the witness ran outside and informed the agents they were a physician and wanted to check out Pretti. Agents kept asking for a physician’s license. None of them, the pediatrician said, were performing CPR on Pretti.
An agent eventually relented after searching the pediatrician for weapons.
“As I approached, I saw that the victim was lying on his side and was surrounded by several ICE agents,” the pediatrician recalled. “I was so confused as to why the victim was on his side, because that is not standard practice when a victim has been shot. Checking for a pulse and administering CPR is standard practice.”
However, the doctor said, “instead of doing either of those things, the ICE agents appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.”
The doctor asked the agents if Pretti had a pulse and they said they did not know. The witness saw three bullet wounds in his back. When they asked agents to turn Pretti to his back, they observed another gunshot in his upper left chest and another possible gunshot on his neck.
The pediatrician was eventually able to start CPR after asking agents. Emergency services arrived shortly after to take over and the doctor went home. After speaking with their sister and a friend who works for the city, the pediatrician decided to shelter in their apartment. However, agents fired tear gas that seeped into their apartment.
“I do not feel safe in my city. In less than one month, ICE agents have shot and killed two people for protesting and observing their actions,” the witness said. “I worry that I or someone I love will be shot and killed for voicing their displeasure and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
What officials have said
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference Saturday that Pretti’s only previous interaction with law enforcement was for traffic tickets. Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, he said.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, during a news conference Saturday, defended the agents’ actions.
“They responded, according to their training, and took action to defend the officer’s life and those of the public around him,” she said.
Homeland Security attempted to block Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators from collecting evidence. BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said they eventually received a warrant to access the shooting site.
Federal authorities recently blocked BCA from examining evidence in the Jan. 7 ICE killing of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Pretti’s family speaks out
Michael and Susan Pretti said in a statement they are “heartbroken but also very angry.” They called their son a “kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends” as well as the American veterans he cared for as an ICU nurse in a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.
“Alex wanted to make a difference in this world,” the Prettis said. “Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.”
They added that “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,” Michael and Susan Pretti said. “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.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
