On Saturday, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse and American citizen, was shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. There is a wide gap between what Americans have seen of the shooting and what federal officials are telling them.
Shortly after the shooting, Department of Homeland Security officials rushed to defend the agents involved, saying the victim “approached U.S. Border Patrol agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and that when federal agents attempted to disarm him, “the suspect violently resisted.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Border Patrol agent who shot Pretti, saying during a news conference that the agent fired “defensive” shots after the victim violently brandished a gun. “The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently,” Noem said.
In a separate news conference, Border Patrol Commanding General Greg Bovino said Pretti may have wanted to do “maximum damage” and “massacre law enforcement.”
But the videos taken by passers-by, filmed from several different angles, tell a different story.
In the first video verified by CNBC, protesters can be heard honking their horns on an urban street in Minneapolis, while the author of the video records the movement of the car through the windshield of a car.
At the 15-second mark, the camera pans to the left to show a man across the street wearing a brown jacket and tan pants (this is likely Alex Pretti) holding up what appears to be a phone as he is confronted by two federal agents.
Pretti walks away from the confrontation while appearing to yell at an officer.
After 21 seconds, the person filming the video drives past the confrontation and the camera pans to the other side of the street as someone in the car shouts profanities.
In a second video verified by CNBC, protesters can be heard whistling and honking at federal agents in video on a cold Minneapolis street.
After seven seconds, the video shows a man dressed in tactical gear, believed to be a federal agent, shoving a woman wearing a brown jacket and black leggings in the back near the edge of the street. She does not fall but moves several meters away because of the push.
The camera briefly moves to the middle of the street before returning to the confrontation on the side at 11 seconds. The agent comes face to face with a woman dressed in a long cream jacket and charcoal pants. Next to her is a man in a brown jacket and beige pants, believed to be Pretti, and next to him is the woman in a brown jacket and black leggings who was jostled a few seconds ago.
At 12 seconds into the second video, the officer pushes the woman who was wearing the cream jacket to the ground. Pretti placed himself between the officer and the woman, who was on her back in a snow bank on the side of the road.
At 14 seconds, the officer begins spraying Pretti in the face with a chemical agent. Pretti covers his face and turns away from the officer. Other officers wearing vests approach the confrontation.
At 22 seconds, several officers struggle with Pretti, attempting to knock him to the ground. He appears to fall to the ground, and at 28 seconds you see an officer apparently punch him in the head while Pretti is on the ground.
At this point, passersby are recording and whistles are constantly making noise.
Within 38 seconds, at least six officers appeared to have restrained the man believed to be Pretti to the ground.
An officer appears to take a gun from Pretti and quickly walks away while holding the gun. A gunshot is heard at 40 seconds. It is unclear whether the man holding the gun fired the gun. After the first shot, other shots followed in quick succession.
In a third video verified by CNBC, taken by someone on the street near the incident, protesters denounce federal agents.
At 25 seconds, a man in a brown jacket and beige pants, believed to be Pretti, raises his hand in the middle of the street. He makes a car pass and starts walking. The camera then moves away for a moment towards a snow bank. One protester can be heard shouting: “What is wrong with you?
At 33 seconds into the third video, Pretti has his arm around a woman dressed in a dark green jacket and black leggings, apparently trying to help her. He stands in front of a federal agent who approaches a woman who is on her back in the snow bank at the side of the road.
At 40 seconds, Pretti raises his hand to a federal agent who sprays him with some sort of chemical agent. Two officers drag him on his back and other officers join in a circle around the man in beige pants. A struggle takes place on the ground, with six officers surrounding the man in beige pants.
At the 60 second mark, one of the officers can be seen backing away from the confrontation and he draws his gun and points it at Pretti.
At 1:01 a.m., a single gunshot can be heard, followed by several shots in quick succession. The man on the ground, Pretti, collapses.
Amid the screams, at 1:04 a.m., another burst of gunfire is heard.
At no point in any of the three videos presented here does Alex Pretti brandish a weapon or appear to threaten federal immigration agents before the confrontation began, as DHS Sec. Noem and other members of the Trump administration.
Video also appears to show a federal officer removing a gun from Pretti while he is restrained by officers on the ground before shots are fired.
Pretti is a legal gun owner and has a license for his gun.
