Eyewitness video showing a federal agent shooting and killing Alex Pretti, 37, in Minneapolis contradicts the Trump administration’s description of events, presenting two starkly different narratives.
Shortly after the shooting, federal officials said agents had acted in self-defense during the violent altercation Saturday morning. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun,” and accused Pretti of “brandishing“ a firearm while “wishing to inflict harm on these officers.” Officers “attempted to disarm” him and he “violently resisted,” Noem said. President Donald Trump shared a picture of what he said was “the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go.” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Pretti “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement.”
But at least five videos of the confrontation — recorded by eyewitnesses and verified and analyzed by NBC News — run counter to many of the administration’s statements. The videos show Pretti did not hold a weapon during the skirmish that began with him coming to the aid of a person pushed to the ground and ended with him on his knees, surrounded by agents. And one video shows that a federal agent removed a gun from Pretti's waist area just before he was shot.
Noem and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said the shooting was under investigation by DHS. Pretti, an intensive care nurse, had a permit to carry a gun, local officials said.
The videos, shot by witnesses from different vantage points — in the street, in a shop and in a car — show Pretti holding a phone when he and officers began to tussle.
The recordings begin with Pretti recording masked agents conducting an operation on Nicollet Avenue. Federal officials said officers were there looking for a man wanted in connection with an assault who was in the U.S. illegally. Pretti is a U.S. citizen, local officials said.
In the videos, Pretti is one of several people in the street. Some are blowing whistles and shouting and honking car horns. Pretti, wearing brown pants, a dark hooded coat and a dark baseball cap, can be seen talking to officers at close range in the middle of the street. One of the officers pushes him back toward the curb.
Moments later, Pretti walks back into the street, holding his phone horizontally in his right hand. He waves an oncoming car past him. He moves toward officers who push other people away.
Pretti puts his arm around one of those people and leads them to the curb. A few feet away, an officer pushes a different person, who falls onto the snow-covered curb. Pretti steps between the officer and the person. The deadly tussle begins.
Pretti faces the officer, who pulls out what appears to be a pepper-spray canister. Pretti twists away, raising his left hand above his head, and the officer sprays at Pretti’s face and pushes him.
Pretti moves to the person on the curb and the officer sprays at him again. Pretti appears to put his phone in his right coat pocket, then falls over the person and grabs onto them. The officer pulls at Pretti, who clings to the person on the curb. Several more officers surround Pretti and wrestle him to the pavement.
As they scuffle, the officers are shouting. One, holding a chemical spray canister in his right hand, appears to swing at Pretti’s head three times. Pretti can be seen bent forward, holding himself up with his forearms and hands on the pavement. There is nothing in his hands.
Another officer, wearing a gray jacket, approaches the scrum without anything in his hands and reaches toward Pretti. Someone says “gun.” An officer in a black mask standing over Pretti pulls his gun from his holster and points it down at Pretti.
The officer in the gray jacket grabs a gun from Pretti's waist area and pulls away from the scrum. Pretti is on his knees. The first shot rings out. The officer in the gray jacket, now holding Pretti's gun in his hand, continues jogging away. (DHS later released a photo of the weapon that authorities said belonged to Pretti.) The officer in the black mask moves behind Pretti, and three more shots are heard. Pretti collapses and rolls onto his back.
The officers back up, and six more shots are heard while Pretti lies still. People are screaming in fear and at the officers. “What the f--- did you just do?” one woman yells. “Oh, my God.”
People yell out for someone to call an ambulance.
Pretti was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
