Minneapolis shooting: man shot dead by federal officers was 37-year-old US citizen, police chief says – live updates | Minneapolis
Man shot dead was 37-year-old US citizen, Minneapolis police chief says
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara has said the city authorities know the identity of the man killed by federal officers this morning, but the name is not being released at this time.
He described the person shot dead as a white man, a resident of the city and a US citizen. O’Hara said the victim was 37 years old. Wire services had previously said the man was 51.
O’Hara said that the federal authorities have not provided any details about today’s incident to the police department and city authorities.
Key events
Border Patrol commander addresses public
Greg Bovino, commander of the federal Border Patrol agency is now holding a press conference in Minneapolis.
He said that this morning federal immigration officers tried to apprehend a person they were targeting for immigration enforcement and, at that time, the officers were approached by a man with a gun.
Bovino said that officers tried to disarm the man but he ended up shot dead, in a defensive action.
Bovino was asked by gathered journalists if the man brandished the gun he appeared to have and the border patrol commander said that element of the incident was under investigation. It was unclear from his press conference how many shots were fired in total and how many bullets hit the man.
The Minnesota Star Tribune has named the person shot dead by the federal authorities this morning as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, from south Minneapolis.
The main newspaper of the city has cited sources it cannot name but who are “familiar with the investigation.”.
The Mineapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, earlier said the man, whom he did not name, had no serious criminal history and a record that showed parking tickets.
The Guardian has not independently received confirmation of the victim’s identity but we are monitoring all legitimate news sources closely and making inquiries and will bring you the news as it develops.
Just a day ago, tens of thousands of Minnesotans had marched in Minneapolis and otherwise participated in an economic “strike” to protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surge in the state.
About 100 clergy members were arrested by police during the action, video footage showed.
Beside faith leaders, the “no work, no school, no shopping” day of protest was kicked off by community leaders and labor unions – and included actions around the state, plus business closures in solidarity.
The “Day of Truth & Freedom” protest came in the wake of the killing of Renee Good, the unarmed woman shot by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
The protesters’ demands include that ICE leave Minnesota, that the ICE officer who killed Good be legally held accountable, an end to additional federal funding for ICE, and for the agency to be investigated for human rights and constitutional violations.
Hundreds of local businesses in Minnesota announced closures in solidarity. Thousands of people took the day off from their jobs to join the action, while others participated by not shopping on Friday. The Minneapolis city council endorsed the day of action and the general strike.
You can read more in our report here.
In bystander video of the fatal incident in Minneapolis today, many details remain unexplained, but the viewer can see a tussle of five or six agents in dull green uniforms pinning someone to the ground and some of those agents raising their arms and appearing to punch the person.
The person on the ground also appears to be being kicked by the agents who are restraining them and shots ring out. It is not yet officially disclosed if the man on the ground had a firearm actually upon his person at that time or if he was trying to reach it or use it. The federal government has said the man was wielding a pistol.
The Minneapolis authorities say that the federal government has not told them yet exactly what led up to the violent detention and, ultimately, the fatal shooting of the man.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz has called for the state to lead the investigation into this incident.
Reuters adds that federal officers were wearing masks and tactical vests and were wrestling with a man on the snow-covered street of south Minneapolis before shots are heard. In footage on social media, the man falls to the ground, and several more shots are heard.
Donald Trump has been briefed on the events in Minneapolis as they continue to unfold today, after federal officers apprehended a local man earlier and he was shot dead in the street by the authorities.
Local and state leaders have demanded that the US president call off the thousands of federal personnel that have surged into the city as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda.
The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said it was his understanding that multiple federal officers were involved in the incident this morning where a man was shot dead by government personnel.
O’Hara said that the Minnesota authorities have put national guard troops on stand-by.
The scene where the shooting took place this morning in the south of the city appears to be calming down somewhat at this moment.
The situation earlier was very chaotic, with the federal agents and officers firing teargas at the protesters gathered where a man was shot dead by federal officers today.
Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, has posted on X saying: “I told the White House the state must lead the investigation” into the fatal shooting of a man in Minneapolis this morning.
“Let state investigators secure justice. As we process the scene, stay peaceful and give them space. The state has the personnel to keep people safe – federal agents must not obstruct our ability to do so,” he said.
Local and federal authorities have been sharply at odds over the escalated immigration enforcement efforts taking place in the city over the last few weeks, with Minneapolis and Minnesota leaders furious about the unilateral dispatch of aggressive federal agents to the city by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.
Man shot dead was 37-year-old US citizen, Minneapolis police chief says
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara has said the city authorities know the identity of the man killed by federal officers this morning, but the name is not being released at this time.
He described the person shot dead as a white man, a resident of the city and a US citizen. O’Hara said the victim was 37 years old. Wire services had previously said the man was 51.
O’Hara said that the federal authorities have not provided any details about today’s incident to the police department and city authorities.
Open-source analysis of Minneapolis shooting begins
Robert Mackey
As we piece together what happened in Minneapolis on Saturday, where another shooting by federal immigration agents was recorded on video and posted online by witnesses, instant analysis of the images by open-source experts and non-experts has begun.
David Bier, the Cato institute director of immigration studies, shared the distressing video on X.
The video matches the reported location of the shooting mentioned by officials, and shows a man being wrestled to the ground by several law enforcement officers before being shot several times. At least two officers can be seen with weapons in their hands.
Open-source experts have begun to parse the apparent video evidence online, which seemed to capture the sound of an initial shot causing the agents to retreat from the man before one fires at him repeatedly on the ground.
The journalist Eoin Higgins reposted the clip on Bluesky, with suggestion that that one portion of the recording might show that an officer in grey “disarms the man on the ground being beaten – BEFORE shots were fired”.
The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, is now telling a press conference that his department does not yet know what happened immediately before the shooting.
Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, has just spoken at the press conference that is ongoing in the city.
After Renee Good was shot dead by ICE, he told the agency to “get the fuck out of” the city.
Moments ago at this conference he urged residents to: “Stand with Minneapolis. Stand up for America. Recognize that your children will ask what side you were on. Your grandchildren will ask what you did to act to prevent this from happening again … What did you do to protect your nation?”
He added: “This is not what America is about. This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue. This administration and everyone involved in this operation should be reflecting. They should be reflecting right now and asking: what exactly are you accomplishing?”
Minneapolis officials plead for calm, tell federal enforcement to leave
The police chief of Minneapolis, Brian O’Hara, has kicked off a press conference by acknowledging that people are angry about the latest fatal shooting by federal law enforcement of a man in the city.
He called on federal personnel in the city to conduct themselves with discipline and humanity.
Then he said that members of the public gathered to protest at the scene of the shooting in south Minneapolis were taking part in an “unlawful assembly”.
“There is a lot of anger and questions around what has happened,” O’Hara said.
And he called for calm and begged the public not to damage the city.
Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, is now talking and we will bring you his remarks asap. He’s calling on Donald Trump to “end this operation” and “take action now to remove these federal agents”.
