ProPublica said government records revealed the agents’ identities are Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
MINNEAPOLIS — The federal agents accused of fatally shooting Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti have been identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez, according to reporting by ProPublica.
ProPublica said government records corroborated the agents’ identities. KARE 11 is working to confirm the report independently.
The Department of Homeland Security’s initial report to Congress said two agents fired at Pretti, but it was unclear whether one or both agents struck him. Thus far, DHS has declined to name them.
Further, the DHS report claimed that right before he was killed, agents struggled to arrest Pretti, one of them yelling, “He’s got a gun!” multiple times before shots were fired.
That’s when the DHS notice alleged the officers fired their weapons at Pretti.
CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility told Congress it had reviewed the body-worn camera footage of the shooting and conducted its analysis based on the alleged video.
However, bystander videos taken from several people in multiple angles of the incident appear to dispute the narrative being offered by the federal government. In it, Pretti appeared to intervene as federal agents sprayed a chemical agent in a woman’s face, pushing her to the ground. Pretti appeared to then struggle with agents to the ground, where he was shot.
One bystander’s video also appears to show agents surrounding Alex’s body after the shooting and yelling, “Where’s the gun?” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Pretti was a legal gun owner with a permit to carry a firearm.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) will hold a public forum to hear testimony from several witnesses about “the violent tactics and disproportionate use of force by agents of the DHS.”
Witnesses include Renee Good’s brothers, Brent and Luke Ganger; Good’s family attorney, Antonio Romanucci; Aliya Rahman, a resident of Minneapolis, who was reportedly dragged from her car by immigration agents after telling them she had a disability before being detained; Martin Rascon, a Californian who was in his vehicle when he was targeted by CBP agents and fired upon; Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and current faculty director of the Excellence in Policing & Public Safety (EPPS) Program; and Miramar Martinez, a resident of Chicago who was shot five time by CBP agents and later charged with assaulting those agents. The charges were eventually dropped.
Tuesday’s hearing begins at 3 p.m.