The White House is currently evaluating body camera recordings related to the tragic shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a border patrol officer.
Homeland Security, through a spokesperson, informed NBC News on Monday that it possesses ‘multiple angles’ of the incident, which are presently being scrutinized.
The department also confirmed an investigation is underway into the conduct of the officer involved, as well as the circumstances leading up to the shooting, amidst growing questions about the federal officials’ handling of the incident.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has faced backlash for labeling Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist’ and suggesting he aimed to ‘massacre’ officers, stated that the bodycam footage will play a crucial role in the ongoing inquiry.
Noem emphasized that ‘every video will be analyzed, everything will be looked at’ during the investigation, while President Trump remarked that his administration is ‘reviewing everything’ concerning the shooting.
Numerous eyewitnesses recorded the unfortunate event, yet the chaotic scene made it challenging to clearly discern the events leading to Pretti’s death.
The president waded in after deploying his White House ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to take over the investigation in Minnesota, effectively sidelining Noem following her response to the shooting.
‘I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. ‘Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.’
ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed while being detained by ICE agents on Saturday
Pretti seen confronting border patrol officers moments before he was shot dead
Amid mounting scrutiny on the investigation into Pretti’s death, which ignited fierce protests in Minnesota, Trump took to Truth Social on Monday to surprisingly praise Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Trump wrote: ‘Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength.
‘I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future.
‘He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I! We have had such tremendous SUCCESS in Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and virtually every other place that we have “touched” and, even in Minnesota, Crime is way down, but both Governor Walz and I want to make it better! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.’
Republican lawmakers in Washington have raised concerns that Noem’s operation has spiraled out of control, and Democratic leaders at the national and state levels are demanding that federal agents leave Minnesota.
Trump himself has privately expressed that Noem’s department mishandled the public messaging in the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s shooting, according to multiple reports.
The President now wants Homan, a loyal ICE veteran, to lead the operation in Minnesota that was launched at the start of December.
Pretti’s family slammed federal officials in the wake of the shooting, accusing them of spreading ‘sickening lies’ about him including branding him a ‘domestic terrorist’
Amid scrutiny on the response from top Trump officials including Noem, Pretti’s family released a scathing statement condemning the response from the White House, saying they have been left heartbroken and angry by his death.
‘The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,’ the family said.
The family denied claims that Pretti pointed a gun at border patrol officers and said videos of the incident showed he was protecting a woman who had been pepper sprayed.
‘Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,’ the family wrote.
‘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.’
