Newly released videos show Alex Pretti being forcefully taken to the ground by federal immigration agents during a Minneapolis protest on Jan. 13, 11 days before he was shot and killed by Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers. The footage shows Pretti kicking out the taillight of a federal vehicle, shouting expletives, and struggling with officers, according to the AP. His winter coat comes off during the scuffle, and he either breaks free or is released, scurrying away. When he turns his back, what appears to be a handgun is visible in his waistband, though the videos do not show him reaching for it, and it is unclear whether the officers noticed it.
A source familiar with the incident confirmed to the AP that the person in the videos is Pretti, who had told his family about the confrontation. The videos have reignited national discussion over the death of Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, shared one of the videos on X with the comment, “Just a peaceful legal observer.”
However, Steve Schleicher, a Minneapolis attorney representing Pretti’s parents, said the Jan. 13 incident does not justify the officers’ fatal shooting of Pretti on Jan. 24.
“A week before Alex was gunned down in the street—despite posing no threat to anyone—he was violently assaulted by a group of [federal] agents,” Schleicher said. “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing.”
Homeland Security Investigations is reviewing the new footage and the incident, a department spokesperson said. It is not known if any of the officers involved in the earlier scuffle were present during the fatal shooting, or whether the Jan. 13 incident is the same one previously reported to have left Pretti with a broken rib.
The videos, which surfaced from two sources, were captured by Max Shapiro, a witness, and by a crew from the online outlet News Movement. Shapiro, a Minneapolis attorney, said while some may use the footage to criticize Pretti, he saw him as someone deeply concerned about the people affected by the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
“I’m no immigration policy expert,” Shapiro said. “But there has to be a better way to go about this.”