‘The normal rules of engagement have been thrown out – Alex Pretti was on his knees when first shot was fired’
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The road where Alex Pretti was killed by a federal immigration agent is known in Minneapolis as “Eat Street” because it’s lined with restaurants and cafes.
A place where people usually come to enjoy themselves is now a focus for a community’s grief and anger.
It’s cordoned off to traffic, and a steady stream of people arrive to place candles and flowers, trying to come to terms with what happened here.
I’ve now seen four angles of this shooting – four different videos which show the fatal shots, the moments before and the moments after.
They offer a window into how this horror unfolded, second by second. Obviously, there’s a lot we can’t see, particularly given the crush of federal agents surrounding Alex Pretti in the final seconds of his life.
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There’s a lot we don’t know about the perspectives of the protagonists and what they were thinking. It’s noisy, it’s chaotic, and several people in the videos are wearing very similar clothing.
But to be crystal clear – at no point is there any obvious evidence, even a hint, that Mr Pretti was intent on massacring a group of immigration agents in broad daylight, as the Department of Homeland Security is claiming.
At no point is there any sign that this situation will escalate to the point where a man will be shot dead.
‘He is on his knees when first shot is fired’
A video filmed by a bystander on the pavement, yards from the incident, shows Mr Pretti filming the immigration officers on his mobile phone.
In recent weeks, many people in Minneapolis have been following federal immigration agents around the city and recording their activities, amid allegations they are abusing their power in a furious drive to enforce US President Donald Trump’s migrant crackdown.
It is not a crime to follow and record federal agents. Some of the people who have done this told me that not only is it their First Amendment right to do so, but that they feel it is their civic duty.
Mr Pretti is seen using a mobile phone moments before he was fatally shot
In the videos of the shooting of Mr Pretti, you can see and hear people blowing whistles. Again, many people in Minneapolis have been blowing whistles and beeping car horns to warn their neighbours that immigration officers are active in the area. It is not a crime to do that either.
At one point, Mr Pretti appears to be trying to direct traffic down the road, waving at a car to go around him. If he was intent on a massacre, he had plenty of opportunity to open fire as ICE officers had their backs turned to him.
A few seconds later, an officer seems to push a woman and Mr Pretti intervenes.
A law enforcement officer pinning down a man identified as Mr Pretti, before he was fatally shot. Pic: Reuters
He is pepper-sprayed and goes to the ground.
It’s not clear why officers used the pepper spray or if they warned him first.
A law enforcement officer spraying irritants at a man identified as Mr Pretti, before he is shot and killed. Pic: Reuters
He is on his knees when the first shot is fired and seems to be motionless when at least nine more shots are fired.
At no point does he appear to be holding a firearm, and certainly not pointing it at anyone.
‘Situations can quickly escalate’
I’m not particularly surprised something like this has happened again, just over two weeks after the killing of Renee Nicole Good.
I’ve been to Minneapolis on three separate occasions this month and each time have seen how situations involving federal immigration agents can quickly escalate.
I was a passenger in a car with a woman “observing” ICE officers, not dissimilar to what both Mr Pretti and Ms Good seemed to be doing.
Their first interaction with her was to bang on her windows and threaten to smash them. They then threatened to throw her in jail but did not say what crime she was suspected of.
All of this was before they even asked her name.
The normal rules of engagement have been thrown out of the window here.
I’ve also seen how the Trump administration has jumped to conclusions and demonised victims caught up in protests against ICE.
Last week, protests erupted following the shooting of a Venezuelan man by an ICE agent in northeast Minneapolis. I was there as law enforcement fired tear gas at the crowd of protesters who gathered late into the evening.
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Another ‘terrifying ordeal’
I then interviewed a very distressed father, Shawn Jackson.
He had been returning from watching a basketball game with his six children, ranging in age between six months and 11 years.
They had become enveloped in the protests, and a law enforcement officer threw a tear gas canister under their car. It exploded, mimicking a crash, meaning the airbags inside the SUV inflated and it quickly filled with tear gas.
Mr Jackson told me everyone in the car was gasping for breath, that his six-month-old had completely stopped breathing, and all of his children were taken to hospital.
They are thankfully physically okay, but it was a terrifying ordeal.
The Department of Homeland Security posted a link on X to an interview with Mr Jackson discussing this awful situation and added the comment: “It is horrific to see radical agitators bring children to their violent riots. PLEASE STOP ENDANGERING YOUR CHILDREN.”
They later deleted the comment, presumably after discovering the reality of the circumstances.
But it was a reminder of how dangerous it is to leap to conclusions.
And with the death of Mr Pretti, once again an investigation into a shooting by a federal immigration agent here is being predetermined by the White House.
