Videos show altercation between Alex Pretti and federal officers 11 days before he was killed | US news
Videos were released Wednesday of a previous confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal agents, 11 days before the intensive care nurse was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis.
A roughly two-minute video posted Wednesday by The News Movement, a digital media outlet, shows a Jan. 13 incident in Minneapolis in which police officers appeared to grab Pretti and put him on the ground during intense community protests against the federal crackdown in the city.
It’s unclear exactly what preceded the filmed events, but the footage shows Pretti yelling at officers in an unmarked vehicle and kicking the car’s taillight as they drive away. Shortly after, a heavily armed officer in tactical gear is seen getting out of the car and appears to tackle Pretti to the ground as other officers gather around.
Pretti appeared to break free from the officers a short time later, then got up and remained at the scene as the officers left. After Pretti’s coat was removed by officers, News Movement video shows what appears to be a gun in his waistband. Pretti, who reportedly had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, never touched her during or after the altercation.
A family representative confirmed to the Guardian that it was Pretti in the images released on Wednesday.
Steve Schleicher, an attorney representing Pretti’s family, said in a statement: “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street – when he posed no threat to anyone – he was violently attacked by a group of ICE agents. Nothing that happened a full week before could have justified Alex’s murder.”
A representative for the family also said they were aware of the incident and that Pretti was injured, but did not receive medical attention.
The Minnesota Star Tribune published a separate video Wednesday of the same incident, showing officers tackling Pretti. Max Shapiro, a witness who filmed the interaction, told the newspaper: “He was knocked to the ground quite violently. » The footage ends with Shapiro approaching Pretti and asking if he was okay, with Pretti replying, “I’m okay. Are we all okay? Are we all safe?”
A third video of the incident, posted to YouTube the same day as the incident, gives a sense of growing anger over the ongoing immigration enforcement operation, with cars honking and people whistling to alert their neighbors to the presence of federal agents.
Pretti and the other protesters confronted federal agents that day, just four blocks from where Renee Good had been killed by an ICE officer the previous week.
All videos show that during the incident, officers fired tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd while continuing to hold Pretti on the ground. Chaotic footage shows other residents gathering and shouting at officers afterward.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email Wednesday evening that it was reviewing the footage.
It’s unclear from the footage exactly what motivated Pretti’s apparent anger at the officers.
Sahan Journal, a local newspaper that covers immigrant communities, reported that day that a crowd of more than 100 people gathered to watch and protest following reports of ICE’s presence in the neighborhood.
The outlet reported that a woman was forcibly removed from her vehicle after officers smashed her window. Aisha Gomez, a state representative, was also at the scene and told the outlet that officers tackled another man and forced his head into the ground before taking him away.
Gomez told the outlet that the officers also got physical with her, saying, “I was pushed around without any verbal communication.”
Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, was asked about the footage filmed at a CNN town hall and responded that he did not consider it relevant to his fatal shooting 11 days later.
“I think we should talk about the circumstances that actually led to the murder, what happened and those circumstances,” the mayor said.
Trump administration officials initially claimed Pretti was “brandishing” a gun the day he was killed and intended to “massacre” officers — claims contradicted by video showing him holding a phone, not a gun.
“The sickening lies told by the administration about our son are reprehensible and disgusting,” Pretti’s family said in a statement shortly after his killing. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when he is attacked by Trump’s assassins and the cowardly ICE thugs…Please let the truth be known about our son. He was a good man.”
