Woman Who Took Video Of CBP Shooting In Minneapolis Speaks Out
A woman who recorded the Jan. 24 shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis man fatally shot by federal immigration agents, has provided a firsthand account of what she saw during the incident, offering details that differ from initial official statements.
The eyewitness, who captured video of the encounter, said Pretti was not aggressive in the moments before he was shot, and that he appeared to be filming and observing the scene rather than engaging in threatening behavior. She confirmed that he did not brandish a weapon on camera as he approached federal agents. Multiple videos circulating online show Pretti holding a phone and appear to contradict early descriptions that he posed an imminent threat.
According to the woman’s account, Pretti was near a group of people gathered around federal agents when officers began a physical confrontation. She said he was attempting to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground and was not attempting to draw a firearm when he was wrestled to the pavement. Other witnesses who have come forward have made similar claims, describing Pretti as unarmed and trying to intervene as agents confronted protesters.
Pretti, a registered gun owner with a permit, was legally carrying a handgun at the time of the incident; however, multiple witnesses and video footage do not show him holding or brandishing it before he was shot.
“I decided to check it out on my way to work. I’ve been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors,” the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground,” she continued.
“Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him,” she added.
“Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over,” she added. “The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him.
“The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them – he wasn’t even turned toward them,” she continued.
One angle of the video footage appears to show an agent confiscating Pretti’s handgun before he was shot. “The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground,” said the witness.
“I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state.”
Meanwhile, Democratic politicians in and out of Minnesota are continuing to fan the flames of outrage with gaslighting remarks aimed at demonizing federal immigration enforcement agents and operations.
One of the worst is Gov. Tim Walz, who made another Nazi reference regarding ICE and Border Patrol agents who are facing resistance everywhere they go in Minneapolis – much of it from paid agitators, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Walz sharply criticized federal immigration enforcement following a deadly Border Patrol shooting in Minneapolis, comparing the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to the Holocaust and the experience of Anne Frank.
Speaking during a press briefing Sunday, Walz said some residents, including children, are now “hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside” amid ongoing federal immigration operations in the state. He drew a historical parallel to the story of Frank, the German-Jewish teenager who hid with her family during Nazi persecution in World War II, as he urged changes to federal enforcement tactics.
“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank,” Walz said.
