Shocking new video captures Alex Pretti armed, hurling insults at federal immigration agents, spitting in their direction, and smashing the rear lights of their black SUV during a disorderly clash a week before he was killed by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis.
The footage, which the BBC confirmed as authentic, shows the ICU nurse shouting at officers as they drove away during a tense protest on January 13. He then kicked the rear of the vehicle, causing agents to stop, get out, and force him to the ground. The man — dressed similarly to what Pretti was wearing when he was killed last Saturday — was restrained by at least five officers.
Painting a Different Picture
The officers also released tear gas into the crowd amid the chaotic scene. The group of officers kept him pinned for a time before he pulled away and rejoined the loud crowd, yelling at the agents with a firearm clearly visible tucked into the back of his waistband.
Homeland Security Investigations is "reviewing" the newly surfaced video of the 37-year-old's earlier encounter with federal officers, the Department of Homeland Security said.
A representative for Pretti's grieving family and their lawyer have confirmed that the person shown in the footage is indeed Pretti.
"A week before Alex was gunned down in the street — despite posing no threat to anyone — he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents," Pretti family attorney Steve Schleicher said in a statement to The Post.
"Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex's killing at the hands of ICE on Jan. 24."
Pretti was reportedly already on federal authorities' radar and, during the earlier violent encounter with agents about a week before he was killed, he ended up with a broken rib.
Federal immigration officers had documented details about Pretti and other anti-ICE demonstrators in Minneapolis in the weeks leading up to the later incident.
The Final Encounter
When he faced Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis last Saturday, Pretti was carrying a handgun that he was legally permitted to have. Officers removed the loaded Sig Sauer from his waistband before firing at least ten shots at him while he was held on the ground.
Investigators from the Department of Homeland Security think that a stray shot from Pretti's own pistol, after it had been taken from him, may have been what caused the Border Patrol agents to start shooting.
The fatal shooting caught on camera began when Pretti wedged himself between a female demonstrator and ICE officers. Border Patrol agents tackled and disarmed him, and during the scuffle, two of them shot and killed him.
The two federal immigration officers who fired at Pretti have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting, officials said.
Their identities have not been publicly released. Pretti's killing was the second such shooting by federal immigration officers in Minnesota in under three weeks, occurring amid a large operation targeting undocumented migrants in the state.
Earlier, on January 7, an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old mother of three after authorities said her vehicle struck the officer.
Both of these shootings triggered waves of demonstrations across Minnesota, leading local and national elected officials to call for the removal of ICE from the state to help calm tensions.
