By MEG KINNARD and HANNAH FINGERHUT, Related Press
Trump administration officers swiftly sought to painting 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, as an armed disruptor intent on doing hurt to federal brokers when he introduced his personal gun to a Minneapolis avenue the place officers clashed with protesters over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Video shot by bystanders and reviewed by The Related Press seems to contradict a few of these statements.
In their very own phrases, that is what the Trump administration has mentioned about Pretti and the circumstances round his dying, and what’s proven on movies of the taking pictures:
Bovino: Pretti approached together with his gun
Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander main Trump’s crackdown, instructed reporters Saturday that federal officers fired defensive photographs after a person “approached” with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun.
Additionally Saturday, Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned a number of instances that Pretti “got here with a weapon and dozens of rounds of ammunition and attacked” officers, who took motion to “defend their lives.”
WHAT WE KNOW: Whereas questions remained in regards to the confrontation, use-of-force consultants instructed The Related Press that bystander video undermined federal authorities’ declare that Pretti approached with a firearm and that the officer opened fireplace defensively.
Pretti might be seen with solely a telephone in his hand. No footage has been made public that seems to point out him brandishing a weapon within the moments earlier than or throughout the confrontation.
Pretti is seen held down by officers for a number of seconds when somebody is heard saying, “gun, gun.” An officer seems to tug a handgun from Pretti’s waist space and begins shifting away.
Then the primary shot is fired by a Border Patrol officer. There’s a slight pause, after which the identical officer fires a number of extra instances into Pretti’s again. A number of officers again off. Inside seconds, Pretti is immobile on the road.
Pretti was licensed to hold a hid weapon.
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino stands throughout a information convention Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Picture/Angelina Katsanis)
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U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino stands throughout a information convention Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Picture/Angelina Katsanis)
Bovino: Pretti ‘violently resisted’ when brokers tried to disarm him
Additionally Saturday, Bovino mentioned that Pretti “violently resisted” when brokers tried to disarm him.
Noem mentioned Sunday on Fox Information Channel that officers tried to get Pretti to disengage, however Pretti “grew to become aggressive and resisted them all through that course of.”
WHAT WE KNOW: The movies present Pretti stepping in after an immigration officer shoves a lady. Pretti seems to be holding his telephone, however there’s no signal he’s holding a weapon.
Pretti strikes between the 2 and reaches his fingers out towards the officer. The officer deploys pepper spray. Pretti is seen turning his face away and elevating an empty hand. The officer grabs Pretti’s hand to convey it behind his again and deploys the pepper spray once more, pushing him away.
Pretti is subsequent to the opposite protester when the officer grabs maintain of Pretti they usually wrestle. The officer is then joined by a number of others they usually power Pretti to the bottom. An officer holding a canister strikes him a number of instances.
Bovino: Pretti appeared to need to ‘bloodbath regulation enforcement’ by bringing a gun
The taking pictures Saturday occurred when officers had been on a business avenue pursuing a person within the nation illegally and wished for home assault, Bovino mentioned.
He mentioned that Pretti was there “to do most harm and bloodbath regulation enforcement.” In a Division of Homeland Safety assertion, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin used the identical phrases.
Noem emphasised Saturday that Pretti “wasn’t there to peacefully protest. He was there to perpetuate violence.” She mentioned Sunday that Pretti “impeded a regulation enforcement operation, which is towards federal regulation.”
WHAT WE KNOW: Pretti was considered one of many protesters on the road Saturday morning. In a seven-minute video obtained by The Related Press that exhibits the moments main as much as Pretti’s killing, he and others are holding up telephones, apparently recording officer exercise. Protesters are yelling out on the officers. Pretti just isn’t seen the entire time, however he at one level might be seen speaking to an officer, who pushes him again to the sidewalk. It’s not clear what Pretti is saying.
Trump: Pretti’s dying spurred by ‘Democrat ensued chaos”
On Sunday, the Republican president in two prolonged social media posts mentioned that Democrats had inspired folks to impede regulation enforcement operations, and referred to as on officers in Minnesota to work with immigration officers and “flip over” individuals who had been within the U.S. illegally.
“Tragically, two American Residents have misplaced their lives on account of this Democrat ensued chaos,” Trump wrote on his Fact Social media community.
Trump additionally mentioned in a publish Saturday that there had been a coordinated “cowl up” to distract from billions being stolen from the state in a sequence of fraud instances involving authorities applications wherein many of the defendants have roots within the east African nation of Somalia. Trump accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of “inciting Rebel.”
Trump officers say Walz and Frey each repeatedly use inflammatory language, together with Walz final 12 months referring to federal immigration officers as “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.”
WHAT WE KNOW: Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul are all topics of a September lawsuit by the Trump administration over their so-called sanctuary insurance policies that the company says intrude with the federal authorities’s authority to implement immigration insurance policies.
Minneapolis and St. Paul prohibit the extent to which their regulation officers and different workers can cooperate with immigration enforcement, the lawsuit famous.
Walz final 12 months rejected the assertion that Minnesota is a sanctuary state, with no statewide regulation defending immigrants who’re within the U.S. illegally from deportation. He has sharply criticized the administration’s operation in Minnesota as a “marketing campaign of organized brutality,” which he repeated Saturday. Walz additionally has inspired folks to protest “loudly, pressing, but additionally peacefully,” he mentioned in remarks after Renee Good’s killing by an immigration officer.
After Good’s killing, Frey used profanity in telling ICE to get out of Minneapolis.
“We are not looking for you right here,” he mentioned.
After the lethal taking pictures Saturday, each Walz and Frey pointed to the 1000’s of Minnesotans who peacefully protested the day prior.
“We would like calm and peace and normalcy again to our lives. They need chaos,” Walz mentioned. “We can not and we is not going to give them what they need by assembly violence with violence.”
Meg Kinnard might be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
