{"id":434056,"date":"2026-01-26T09:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T09:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434056\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T09:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T09:41:19","slug":"u-s-federal-minnesota-officials-offer-starkly-different-messages-on-alex-prettis-death-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434056\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. federal, Minnesota officials offer starkly different messages on Alex Pretti\u2019s death – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

In dueling news conferences, federal and state officials offered starkly different messages Sunday about the immigration crackdown that has swept across Minneapolis and surrounding cities, with both claiming the moral high ground in the wake of another shooting death by federal agents.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhich side do you want to be on?\u201d Gov. Tim Walz asked the public. \u201cThe side of an all-powerful federal government that could kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets, or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such government,\u201d a reference to the shooting of Alex Pretti<\/a> on Saturday in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

At the same time, in a federal office building about 20 miles away, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, the public face of the crackdown, again turned blame for the shooting to Pretti.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone makes the choice to come into an active law enforcement scene, interfere, obstruct, delay or assault law enforcement officer and \u2014 and they bring a weapon to do that. That is a choice that that individual made,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

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The competing comments emerged as local leaders and Democrats across the country demanded federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after Pretti\u2019s shooting, which set off clashes with protesters in a city already shaken by another shooting death weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t6:55
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tU.S. Border Patrol Commander talks making \u2018good choices,\u2019 says Alex Pretti\u2019s death was \u2018preventable\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tVideo contradicts administration statements<\/p>\n

Video shot by bystanders and reviewed by The Associated Press appears to contradict statements by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, which said agents fired \u201cdefensively\u201d against Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, as he approached them.<\/p>\n

Pretti can be seen with only a phone in his hand as he steps between an immigration agent and a woman on the street. No footage appears to show him with a weapon. During the scuffle, agents appear to disarm him after discovering that he was carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, and then opened fire several times. Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.<\/p>\n

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In the hours after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti attacked officers, and Bovino said he wanted to \u201cmassacre law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bovino was more restrained Sunday, saying he would not speculate about the shooting and that he planned to wait for the investigation.<\/p>\n

Relatives say they are heartbroken\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on World
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Pretti\u2019s family said they were \u201cheartbroken but also very angry\u201d at authorities. Relatives were furious at federal officials\u2019 description of the shooting.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump\u2019s 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,\u201d the family statement said. \u201cPlease get the truth out about our son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pretti was shot just over a mile from where an ICE officer killed 37-year-old Renee Good on Jan. 7, sparking widespread protests.<\/p>\n

A federal judge has already issued an order blocking the Trump administration from \u201cdestroying or altering evidence\u201d related to the shooting, after state and county officials sued.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the lawsuit filed Saturday is meant to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A court hearing is scheduled for Monday in federal court in St. Paul.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA full, impartial, and transparent investigation into his fatal shooting at the hands of DHS agents is nonnegotiable,\u201d Ellison said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Horrific act\u2019 : Minnesota Gov. Walz blasts Trump administration after 2nd death by federal officer\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Drew Evans, superintendent of the state\u2019s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigates police shootings, told reporters Saturday that federal officers blocked his agency from the scene of the shooting even after it obtained a signed judicial warrant. On Sunday morning, bureau officers were working at the scene.<\/p>\n

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the lawsuit, saying claims that the federal government would destroy evidence are \u201ca ridiculous attempt to divide the American people and distract from the fact that our law enforcement officers were attacked \u2014 and their lives were threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Minnesota National Guard temporarily assisted local police at Walz\u2019s direction, officials said, with troops sent to the shooting site and a federal building where officers have squared off daily with demonstrators.<\/p>\n

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But Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O\u2019Hara said Sunday morning on CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation\u201d that \u201cit\u2019s back to just the Minneapolis police responding to calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

No evidence that Pretti brandished gun<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hara said he had seen no evidence that Pretti brandished the pistol, and that the crackdown was exhausting his department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is taking an enormous toll, trying to manage all this chaos on top of having to be the police department for a major city. It\u2019s too much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was among several Democratic lawmakers demanding that federal immigration authorities leave Minnesota.<\/p>\n

In a statement, former President Barack Obama called Pretti\u2019s death a \u201cheartbreaking tragedy\u201d and warned that \u201cmany of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMinneapolis mourns U.S. citizen killed by federal agents as officials dispute DHS account\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

He urged the White House to work with city and state officials.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis has to stop,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n

Federal officials have repeatedly questioned why Pretti was armed during the confrontation. But gun rights groups noted that it\u2019s legal to carry firearms during protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms \u2014 including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights,\u201d the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said in a statement. \u201cThese rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video footage shows pushing and then shooting<\/p>\n

When the Saturday confrontation began, bystander video shows protesters blowing whistles and shouting profanities at federal officers on a commercial street in south Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

The videos show Pretti stepping in after an immigration officer shoves a woman. Pretti appears to be holding his phone toward the officer, but there\u2019s no sign he\u2019s holding a weapon.<\/p>\n

The officer shoves Pretti in his chest and pepper sprays him and the woman.<\/p>\n

Soon, at least seven officers force Pretti to the ground. Several officers try to bring his arms behind his back as he appears to resist. An officer holding a canister strikes him near his head several times.<\/p>\n

A first shot is fired by a Border Patrol officer. There\u2019s a slight pause, and then the same officer fires several more times into Pretti\u2019s back. Multiple officers back off. Within seconds, Pretti is motionless on the street.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tProtests continue<\/p>\n

Demonstrations broke out in several cities across the country after the shooting, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

In Minneapolis, protesters converged in the neighborhood where Pretti had been shot despite dangerously cold weather with temperatures around minus 6 degrees (minus 21 Celsius).<\/p>\n

An angry crowd screamed profanities at federal officers after the shooting, calling them \u201ccowards\u201d and telling them to go home. Protesters dragged large garbage bins from alleyways to block streets, lighting at least one on fire.<\/p>\n

As darkness fell, hundreds of people mourned quietly by a growing memorial at the site of the shooting. A doughnut shop and a clothing store nearby stayed open, offering protesters a warm place.<\/p>\n

By morning, the scene was calm.<\/p>\n

Brett Williams, 37, came from the city\u2019s suburbs to a morning vigil at the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand in solidarity with a brother whose life was taken too soon,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s standing up for immigrants. We\u2019re all immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell\u2019Orto and Tim Sullivan in Minnesota, Rebecca Santana in Washington and Jim Mustian in New York contributed this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In dueling news conferences, federal and state officials offered starkly different messages Sunday about the immigration crackdown that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[180264,43,2598,44,41,39,42,40,2845],"class_list":["post-434056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alex-pretti","tag-headlines","tag-minnesota","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}