The closest eyewitness to the moment anti-ICE protestor Alex Pretti was fatally shot dead in Minnesota this weekend has offered a haunting account of what unfolded, appearing to confirm rumors circulating online.
On Saturday, January 24, Pretti was shot dead by ICE officers in yet another incident that has caused widespread shock across the U.S.
The 37-year-old’s death, less than one month after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, has further ramped up tensions in Minnesota at a time when political unrest has resulted in tens of thousands being disillusioned with the federal government.
ICE agents have swept through the city of Minneapolis in recent weeks, making arrests and looking to round up all those deemed to be in the U.S. illegally. Their presence has been criticized by many, their apparent heavy-handedness lambasted.
Following on from the fatal shooting of Renee Good, this weekend saw another volatile incident that further destabilizes what little harmony remains. ICU nurse Alex Pretti was on Saturday accused of brandishing a gun at federal agents, with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claiming he ‘wanted to do maximum damage’ and ‘massacre law enforcement’.
Donald Trump took to social media, describing Pretti as a gunman and sharing a picture of the firearm that was taken from him.
Now, as in the aftermath of the shooting of Good, video footage has since emerged appearing to counteract those initial claims. Pretti, it’s reported, had a permit to carry a gun, while the firearm itself was taken from his holster by ICE agents before he was fatally shot.
One such video shows the nurse attempting to protect two women, with only a phone visible in his hand and no gun in sight.
Pretti was forced to the floor by ICE agents, pepper sprayed, and then shot more than 10 times. One eye witness who filmed the horrifying incident on her phone has shared her account of what happened in a sworn affidavit as evidence in an ongoing lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Trump Administration.
“I decided to check it out on my way to work. I’ve been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbours,” the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground.
“Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.”
“Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over,” she added. “The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him.
“The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them – he wasn’t even turned toward them.”
Footage also appears to show Pretti’s gun being taken from him by a federal agent before he was shot, implying that he was unarmed and posed no threat at the time of his death.
The eyewitness added: “The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.
“I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbours and my state.”
Pretti’s family have also hit out at what they perceive to be lies being told about their son in the wake of his death. After Pretti was painted as an agitator who had attacked ICE officers, they wrote in a statement: “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.
“He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper-sprayed.
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
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