New video show Alex Pretti spitting on federal agents, kicking their vehicle in Minneapolis days before his death
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "New video show Alex Pretti spitting on federal agents, kicking their vehicle in Minneapolis days before his death")
Alex Pretti altercation with federal immigration agents. Photograph: (X/@SteveGuest)
The January 13 altercation was recorded in two videos that show Pretti hurling an expletive at federal officers and grappling with them. As he is forced to the ground, his winter jacket comes off, and he either slips free or is released before quickly fleeing the scene.
A video that surfaced on Wednesday shows Alex Pretti being forcefully dragged to the ground by federal immigration agents after kicking out the taillight of their vehicle amid a Minneapolis protest 11 days before he was shot dead by Border Patrol officers.
The January 13 altercation was recorded in two videos that show Pretti hurling an expletive at federal officers and grappling with them. As he is forced to the ground, his winter jacket comes off, and he either slips free or is released before quickly fleeing the scene.
When he turns away from the camera, what appears to be a handgun can be seen tucked into his waistband. The footage does not show Pretti attempting to reach for the weapon, and it remains unclear whether the federal agents noticed it. A source familiar with the incident confirmed to the news agency The Associated Press that the individual in the videos is Pretti and said he later informed his family about the encounter.
The new videos, which surfaced online, sparked a new debate about the death of Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Centre. Donald Trump Jr., the US president’s eldest son, said in a video post on X, commenting, “Just a peaceful legal observer.”
A Minneapolis-based attorney representing Pretti’s parents, Steve Schleicher, stated that the earlier altercation in no way justified the officers' shooting of Pretti on Saturday. “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street, despite posing no threat to anyone, he was violently assaulted by a group of (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents,” Schleicher said in a written statement. “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the Homeland Security Investigations confirmed that it is reviewing the new videos and incident and stated that it is not known if any of the officers involved were at the spot where Pretti was killed.
Pretti was put on the ground
The fatal shooting took place last week on a sidewalk next to the street where Pretti had been filming immigration officers. A video taken by bystanders shows an officer pushing him, then Pretti was put on the ground, where a half-dozen officers attempted to subdue him.
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Another office spotted Pretti’s weapon, which he was licensed to carry, and then he shouted, “He’s got a gun.” Following this, two officers shot him dead. In response, the Trump administration officials responded quickly, saying that Pretti had approached officers with a gun and attacked them.
However, multiple videos of the fatal Minneapolis shooting show that Pretti never brandished a firearm or attacked any officer before he was shot. The footage reveals him holding his phone while on the ground when he was struck in the back, contradicting earlier official claims about his actions. New clips from the week before the shooting came from two sources: one filmed by a witness and later published by the Minnesota Star Tribune and obtained by the AP, and another recorded by a crew from The News Movement.
