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TRANSCRIPT
A night of protest and anger.
Followed by a sombre morning vigil.
Residents of Minneapolis were left reeling once again after Federal immigration agents shot and killed another U-S citizen in broad daylight.
“Sad is the best way I can describe it. What's going on is sick. Trump said they're here to get the criminals or whatever, and yet they're committing most of the crimes, going around breaking and entering, kidnapping and murder.”
Two people have been killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis this year already.
After Renee Good was killed on January 7th, protests against ICE operations in the city intensified as the Trump administration sought to shift blame away from federal officers.
In a similar response to the killing of Renee Good, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was quick to establish the administration's official version of events.
“An individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a nine-millimeter semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently. Fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics were on the scene immediately and attempted to deliver medical aid to the subject, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Alex Pretti was already on the ground when federal agents opened fire.
It was around 9am local time, and the 37-year-old ICU nurse was filmed approaching officers while holding a phone, not a handgun, as he tried to help another protester who'd been pushed to the ground.
Footage of the shooting, reviewed and verified by Reuters, shows a starkly different sequence of events than those given by the administration.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul says anyone who has seen the video knows the government is lying.
“ The video shows him doing something he was trained to do, to help people who's trying to reach over and help a woman in need when she was thrown to the ground by federal agents. And within seconds, federal agents threw him to the ground and fired a shot, not one, but a barrage of bullets into his body on a public sidewalk in America. The federal government claims the killing was justified. This nurse with nothing more than a cell phone in his hand, that he was trying to kill them, that's their story. But anyone who's seen this horrific video...Multiple videos, knows that this is a shameless, bold-faced lie.”
As senior officials in the Trump administration defend the shooting, local officials and law enforcement say their version of what happened is deeply disturbing.
After the killing of Renee Good, Trump officials were quick to label her a "domestic terrorist" and claimed, despite contradictory video evidence, that she was attempting to run a federal agent over with her car.
Despite pushback from local officials and Democrats, Kristi Noem insists she's got the facts right about the latest shooting.
“That is no claim. It is the facts, the facts of this situation… this individual showed up to a law enforcement operation with a weapon and dozens of rounds of ammunition. He wasn't there to peacefully protest. He was there to perpetuate violence. And he was asked to show up and to continue to resist by a governor who's irresponsible and has a long history of corruption and lying.”
Accusing Ms Noem of being unlawful, Governor Hochul says the administration is treating the American public as an enemy.
“Now Donald Trump's handpicked leader of the Department of Homeland Security has proven to be unable and unwilling to follow the law to stop these killings. Kristi Noem has referred to these peaceful protesters as domestic terrorists and lied about the shooting victims being the aggressors. She told law enforcement officers to put on masks and military fatigues to basically treat the American public as the enemy.”
Several lawsuits have already been filed in the wake of the shooting, with a district judge issuing a temporary restraining order barring D-H-S and other federal agencies from destroying or altering evidence related to the case.
United States President Donald Trump has defended the surging ICE operations as necessary to reduce crime and enforce immigration laws.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal after the shooting, Mr Trump has signalled that ICE agents will leave the Minneapolis area at some point, without indicating when.
As local leaders demand the administration end its operation, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced the city was taking legal action.
“The city of Minneapolis is filing a declaration after today's shooting to encourage the judge to rule on a temporary restraining order on Monday that would grant us immediate relief and help, would help stop this operation that has been so harmful to the city of Minneapolis, the state of Minnesota has resulted in multiple shootings and tragic deaths.”
Some gun rights advocates have also raised concerns after the Trump administration quickly linked Pretti's legal gun possession to an intent to do mass harm.
The Gun Owners of America, in a statement on X, wrote that the Second Amendment protects Americans' right to bear arms while protesting and that right must not be infringed upon by the government.
But Customs and Border Control Commander Gregory Bovino says Mr Pretti was in the wrong when he brought a weapon to the scene.
“When someone makes the choice to come into an active law enforcement scene, interfere, obstruct, delay, or assault law enforcement officers, and they bring a weapon to do that, that is a choice that that individual made.”
As the fallout from the shooting unfolds, locals say the city of Minneapolis is shaken.
Family members described Alex Pretti as a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends.
At the Veteran Affairs hospital where he worked, colleagues remembered him as the kind of person who lived to help.
At a vigil on the morning after his death, 57-year-old nurse Heidi Ramden came out to pay her respects.
“Alex was an ICU (Intensive care unit) nurse at the VA (Veterans Affairs). That's one of the toughest jobs in the world. And I'm so grateful to Alex for the care that he provided his patients. And I am holding his family in my heart right now, and I'm holding his coworkers in my heart.”
Like many others in the city, she wants ICE out.
“These people are not helpers. They are not enforcing the law. They are causing chaos and they are hurting people and they need to go”
