The second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen in Minnesota by federal immigration officers has sparked a national uproar, widening the divide over President Trump’s immigration crackdown and intensifying scrutiny of the administration’s tactics.
The incident has triggered a confrontation between Trump administration officials and state and local leaders.
On Sunday, both sides offered sharply conflicting accounts of the on‑camera shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37‑year‑old nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital with no criminal record and a license to carry the handgun he had on him.
Republicans and administration officials expressed regret about the incident but argued that it stemmed from Mr. Pretti’s poor decision-making and what they described as failed leadership in Minnesota. They pointed to Democratic resistance to federal immigration authorities.
Congressional Democrats, insisting a different approach is needed, signaled that they were prepared to block a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Minnesota leaders said the state’s investigative agency — much as it had been during the probe into the shooting death of Renee Good earlier this month — had been shut out of the Homeland Security Department investigation, even after obtaining a judicial warrant.
SEE ALSO: Obamas say most recent fatal ICE shooting in Trump immigration crackdown a ‘wake-up call’ for nation
They questioned whether the administration was trying to hide evidence and accused federal officials of spreading lies about what happened.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, called on Mr. Trump to remove the more than 2,000 immigration agents sent to the state as part of Operation Metro Surge before they “kill another person.” He urged Americans to recognize that “now is the time for choosing.”
“What side do you want to be on?” Mr. Walz said. “The side of an all-powerful federal government that can kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off its streets, or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such government?”
Responding to the national outrage, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bottom line is “you do not get to attack law enforcement officials without any repercussions.”
“No one who wants to be peaceful shows up to a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines,” Mr. Patel said on “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo.” “That is not a peaceful protest.”
Gregory Bovino, Border Patrol commander‑at‑large, framed the fatal shooting as a tragic but unavoidable consequence of a man who was “actively impeding and assaulting law enforcement.”
SEE ALSO: Top Border Patrol official says Alex Pretti to blame for being fatally shot by ICE agents
He said the Border Patrol agents deserved credit for preventing a potential shooting of law enforcement personnel.
“Border Patrol agents and law enforcement were conducting a targeted law enforcement effort against a violent illegal alien that was nearby, and that suspect injected himself into that law enforcement situation with a weapon,” Mr. Bovino said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “What happened between when that situation first came about and the shooting — that’s going to be investigated.”
Pressed repeatedly for evidence that Mr. Pretti had brandished a weapon or assaulted anyone, Mr. Bovino advised against “freeze‑frame” adjudication and insisted that the facts would emerge through the investigation.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara countered that the “videos speak for themselves” and that some statements from federal officials are “deeply concerning.”
Chief O’Hara said Mr. Pretti appeared to be doing two things he was legally allowed to do: record law enforcement and carry a permitted firearm.
“It appears that he was present, exercising his First Amendment rights to record law enforcement activity and also exercising his Second Amendment rights to lawfully be armed in a public space in the city,” he said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “So, I think, very obviously, there are serious questions that are being raised.”
He rejected Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s assertion that Mr. Pretti “brandished” a weapon or assaulted officers. “I do not have any evidence that I’ve seen that suggests that the weapon was brandished,” he said. “You have a Second Amendment right in the United States to possess a firearm, and there are some restrictions around that in Minnesota.”
He said nothing so far indicates that Mr. Pretti violated those restrictions. “Everything that we see, that we are aware of, shows that he did not violate any of those restrictions. … He is not a convicted felon, and he is someone that did have a permit for the handgun to carry it.”
Videos recorded from multiple angles appear to show Mr. Pretti guiding traffic in the street while filming on a cellphone. As he and another person walk toward the sidewalk, an immigration agent approaches and shoves the other person to the ground. Mr. Pretti steps between the agent and the fallen civilian before both are hit with what appears to be pepper spray. Masked agents then pull Mr. Pretti away, wrestle him to the ground and seize his licensed handgun. During the struggle, at least one agent pulls his own handgun and shoots Mr. Pretti multiple times.
Outrage over the killing has merged with anger over ICE’s fatal shooting of Ms. Good earlier this month in Minneapolis.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, called on Republicans to strip the Homeland Security Department from a sweeping funding package that also includes funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, and Health and Human Services. He demanded reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement Sunday. “The appalling murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis must lead Republicans to join Democrats in overhauling ICE and CBP to protect the public. People should be safe from abuse by their own government.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, said the situation was the result of Democratic leaders in Minnesota turning a blind eye to illegal immigration and promoting anti‑ICE rhetoric that has emboldened protesters and endangered federal law enforcement officers.
“You don’t have these kinds of incidents in any other city but Minneapolis,” Mr. Scalise said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Local law enforcement, local officials, the mayor, the governor should not be encouraging people to go out on the streets and break the law by interfering with law enforcement, he said. “Their failed leaders need to look in the mirror and tone it down.”
Sen. Christopher Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, accused the Trump administration of trying to persuade the public not to trust what they saw.
“It should freak the American public out that the Trump administration lies this easily — will lie to your face when you can see the evidence for itself,” Mr. Murphy said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Everybody saw that video, and yet there he was telling you and telling the American public that this man was brandishing a weapon, that he was impeding officers, that he was there to attend a riot, that he was engaged in assault, when everyone can see that that is not true,” he said.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, said the Trump administration’s refusal to work with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigates use‑of‑force cases, has been alarming, and that the state is fighting in court to preserve evidence.
“This is uncharted territory,” Mr. Ellison said. “This is an extraordinary moment at an unprecedented time, and we are doing everything we can to step up to the moment.”
