A video that has been making rounds on social media appears to capture a Department of Homeland Security officer clapping as protester Alex Jeffrey Pretti was fatally shot on Saturday in Minneapolis.
In the footage, the officer, identified by a police vest worn over a black hoodie, is seen rushing toward Glam Doll Donuts. This is where Border Patrol agents had subdued 37-year-old Pretti on the sidewalk after an altercation.
Just as the officer was nearing the scene, a gunshot echoed, causing him to pause. The video captures at least nine additional shots fired in quick succession.
Pretti’s family has condemned the incident, labeling his death as a ‘murder’ and expressing deep sorrow and anger on Saturday night.
They criticized what they call ‘sickening lies’ allegedly propagated by the Trump administration regarding Pretti, denouncing the actions of the White House as ‘reprehensible and disgusting.’
As the Border Patrol agent discharged his weapon, the officer in the video stepped back, clapped three times, turned away, and walked off.
Another video posted to social media appears to show a different federal agent disarming Pretti, an ICU nurse at Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital, before he was shot to death.
The federal agent had nothing in his hands before reaching into the scrum of officers holding Pretti down.
After reaching down toward Pretti’s lower back, where he allegedly had his gun holstered, the agent came back up and ran off with what appeared to be a gun in his right hand.
It is unclear if this was Pretti’s nine-millimeter semi-automatic handgun, which local police said he owned lawfully.
Video shows this federal agent is mid-clap as protestor Alex Jeffrey Pretti is being shot to death after he made contact with immigration enforcement officers on the streets of Minneapolis
Pictured: This federal agent is seen retreating with what appears to be a firearm that he did not have before reaching down near Pretti’s lower back area as he was being held down by officers
This photo shows the same agent running away from the scrum of officers pinning Pretti down
Pictured: The gun and a loaded magazine DHS claims was recovered from Pretti
Once the agent, who was masked, was a few steps away from the struggle, the first shot was heard.
DHS said that officers tried to disarm Pretti but that he ‘violently resisted’. There is no explicit mention of whether officers were actually able to overcome Pretti’s alleged violent resistance to take his gun away.
‘Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene,’ DHS said in a statement.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterized Pretti’s presence on the streets of Minneapolis as a ‘violent riot’.
‘I don’t know any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition, rather than a sign. This is a violent riot. We have someone showing up with weapons and are using them to assault law enforcement officers,’ Noem said at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
Noem did not respond to questions from reporters about whether Pretti was disarmed prior to him being shot to death, according to CNN.
She also did not say precisely when federal agents retrieved the firearm, before or after the shooting.
‘This individual went and impeded their law enforcement operations, attacked those officers, had a weapon on him and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers, coming, brandishing like that,’ she said.
Pretti, a 37-year-old Minnesota resident and US citizen, was shot just after 9am near Glam Doll Donuts on the corner of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue
Pretti (pictured holding his phone in the face of a federal agent) was not seen in videos brandishing a weapon, despite Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s claims
Pretti was pepper spray and tackled to the ground before he was shot to death
Pretti, a 37-year-old Minnesota resident and US citizen, was shot just after 9am near Glam Doll Donuts on the corner of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue.
In one video posted to social media, Pretti could be seen confronting the agents with his phone in hand, angled in their direction. One agent backed Pretti toward the sidewalk, where the rest of the altercation unfolded.
In a second video, seemingly taken moments later, Pretti was seen struggling with federal agents just seconds before he was shot.
Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino told reporters at a press conference on Saturday that his agents were trying to arrest Jose Huerta-Chuma, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, when Pretti intervened.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Pretti had no serious criminal history, with records showing only minor parking violations. O’Hara added that he was a lawful gun owner with a valid permit.
Pretti worked as a registered nurse for the Veterans Health Administration at the Minneapolis VA hospital and earned a reported $90,783 in 2023, according to public records.
After the shooting, thousands descended on the area where he was killed as protests continued against the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis.
Protestors fashioned a makeshift memorial for him and held signs telling ICE to get out of their city.
Pretti is now the second US citizen to be killed by federal agents in Minneapolis after Renee Good, 37, was shot to death in her car by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7.
