By Tim Evans and Andy Sullivan
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 24 (Reuters) – U.S. immigration agents shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis on Saturday, officials said, sparking fierce protests and condemnations from local leaders in the second such incident this month.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said a Border Patrol agent fired in defense at a man who resisted their attempts to disarm him. Reuters could not verify the Department of Homeland Security’s description of events. Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official leading local operations, said the man appeared to be trying to harm the agents but did not provide details of what led to the shooting. He said it was being investigated.
Local leaders questioned that account and demanded that President Donald Trump immediately remove the 3,000 agents he has ordered into the city for an immigration crackdown.
“I’ve seen the video from several angles and it’s sickening,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said. “The federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation – the state will handle it.”
Minnesota officials later said that their investigators had been blocked from the scene.
Local media identified him as Alex Pretti, 37. Public records indicate he lived in Minneapolis and people who identified themselves on social media as former colleagues said he worked as a nurse.
In bystander video verified by Reuters, multiple agents struggle on the ground with Pretti, appearing to strike him before a shot is fired. Pretti falls down, after which multiple additional shots can be heard.
In a second unverified video shot from a different angle, Pretti can be seen standing in the street and filming agents alongside protesters as whistles blow. An agent appears to deploy pepper spray at Pretti and two other people. An altercation ensues before the shots ring out. The agents back away from Pretti as the person filming runs away screaming.
Walz and other state officials are already at odds with President Donald Trump’s administration over the shooting of another U.S. citizen by federal immigration agents. Trump officials have said an immigration agent was acting in self-defense when he shot 37-year-old Renee Good on January 7 and have refused to allow local officials to participate in their investigation of the incident.
POLICE SAY MAN WAS LAWFUL GUN OWNER
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the man killed on Saturday was a lawful gun owner with no criminal record other than traffic violations.
The shooting drew hundreds of protesters to the neighborhood to confront the armed and masked agents, who deployed tear gas and flashbang grenades.
City police and state troopers arrived to manage the crowd. The situation appeared to have calmed after federal agents left the area, though protesters remained on the streets for hours afterward.
Local officials pleaded for restraint. “Please do not destroy our city,” O’Hara said.
The nearby Minneapolis Institute of Art said it had closed for the day due to safety concerns, and the National Basketball Association postponed a Minnesota Timberwolves game.
MAYOR, GOVERNOR CALL FOR OPERATION TO END
Walz and other local and state officials called for an immediate end to the administration’s immigration enforcement operations
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference.
Trump accused local elected officials of stirring up opposition.
“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric,” he wrote on social media.
Vice President JD Vance, who visited the city on Thursday, accused local leaders of refusing to provide local police support to immigration agents. That drew a fierce response from Walz, who said the immigration crackdown has strained local police resources.
The head of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Bob Jacobson, said the state’s National Guard troops had been mobilized to back up local law enforcement.
The shooting came one day after more than 10,000 people took to the frigid streets to protest the crackdown.
Residents have been angered by several incidents, including the killing of Good, the detention of a U.S. citizen who was taken from his home in his shorts, and the detention of school children, including a 5-year-old boy.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, Karl Plume, Renee Hickman, Bo Erickson, Susan Heavey and Andy Sullivan; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Donna Bryson, Sergio Non, Rod Nickel and Diane Craft)
