The family of Alex Pretti denounced fresh attacks Thursday on the intensive care nurse fatally shot by Department of Homeland Security officers after new video emerged of an earlier clash between Pretti and federal immigration enforcement.
Conservatives leaped on the video of the Jan. 13 confrontation as evidence that Pretti was not a peaceful observer, as multiple videos of his killing on Jan. 24 suggest.
“A week before Alex was gunned down in the street — despite posing no threat to anyone — he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents,” Steve Schleicher, an attorney for the family, said Thursday morning. “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.”
The earlier video, published by digital news outlet The News Movement, shows Pretti yelling at officers in a vehicle and spitting in their direction. As the vehicle pulls forward, he kicks out the right taillight. Officers then exit the car and grab him, shoving him onto the ground as other officers fire tear gas and pepper balls into a crowd nearby.
The outlet worked with BBC Verify, which used facial recognition software to identify the man as Pretti.
It’s unclear what happened in the lead-up to the encounter. Two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to MS NOW that the video is being reviewed by investigators.
The video also appears to show Pretti with a pistol in his waistband, though he makes no attempt to use it and it’s unclear whether officers realized he was armed.
President Donald Trump referred to the video twice on Truth Social late Wednesday, including one post highlighting a social media statement labeling Pretti a “domestic terrorist.”
The fact that Pretti was legally carrying a firearm when he was killed immediately became a flashpoint as the Trump administration struggled to find a cohesive response to Pretti’s death, the second fatal shooting of a Minneapolis resident by immigration officers in three weeks. In the hours after Pretti’s shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller blamed Pretti for his own death and falsely accused him of setting out to “assassinate” federal officers.
Although Trump himself made moves toward decreasing tensions, those tepid concessions appeared to crumble as he threatened Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday for saying that city officials do not enforce federal law. Pretti’s death has become a problem for the Trump administration, which for months has waged an aggressive immigration crackdown in Democratic-led cities. Federal law enforcement activity in Minnesota has been particularly combative, especially after the killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7. Federal judges in Minnesota have also ruled against the Justice Department in almost every case challenging immigrants’ detention, with one chief judge excoriating ICE for its “extraordinary” violation of court orders. Residents in Maine, the administration’s latest target, had been steeling themselves for similarly contentious immigration enforcement. But with the White House scrambling over its operation in Minnesota, Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday morning that Noem had assured her that ICE’s “enhanced activities” in Maine have ended. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. ___
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
Marc Santia contributed to this report.
