Federal agents kill another person in Minneapolis

Federal agents have killed another person in Minneapolis. The 37-year-old white man, who has now been identified as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a U.S. citizen and intensive care nurse, was shot to death Saturday morning.

The man’s death comes less than a month after the killing of Renee Nicole Good by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. Good was fatally shot January 7 while driving through an area where ICE agents were seeking out immigrants. DHS, also the parent of ICE, has tried to frame Good’s death as a case of self-defense, claiming she was ramming the agent with her SUV, but video shows her trying to drive away.

Trump administration officials are also saying that Pretti's shooting was a case of self-defense by agents, but video tells a different story. “An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun," said a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, quoted by The Minnesota Star Tribune. "The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted.”

“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots,” the statement continued. “Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.”

DHS, the parent agency of Border Patrol, said the shooting took place while agents were conducting a “targeted operation” seeking “an illegal alien wanted for violent assault.”

But "video shows several agents wrestling the man to the ground and shooting him multiple times," the Star Tribune reports.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he saw video of six masked men "pummeling one of our citizens" and shooting him, according to the Star Tribune.

“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?" Frey said at a news conference. "How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?"

The New York Times is also reporting that video appears to contradict DHS's version of events. "Video footage shows Mr. Pretti stepping between a woman and an agent who is pepper spraying her," the paper reports. "Other agents then pepper spray Mr. Pretti, who is holding a phone in one hand and nothing in the other, and pull him to the ground. His concealed weapon was found only after he was restrained on the sidewalk, the videos show. It appears to have been taken from him before the agents opened fire."

Officials with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said the agency was not allowed access to the scene, the Star Tribune reports. They obtained a search warrant but still were kept out. "When our team arrived, they were blocked by federal agents," BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said at a news conference. He said only an independent investigation will show what happened at the scene.

Pretti was a nurse in an intensive care unit at a Veterans Affairs hospital, the Times reports. O’Hara said he was an American citizen, had no criminal record, and had a valid permit to carry a gun.

Pretti “was a really great colleague and a really great friend,” Dimitri Drekonja, a coworker at the hospital, told the Times. “The default look on his face was a smile.”

“He wanted to be helpful, to help humanity, and have a career that was a force of good in the world,” Ruth Anway, a fellow nurse at the hospital, told the paper.

Related: We've all seen the video. Do Kristi Noem and mainstream media think we're stupid?

MS NOW reported Friday that the Department of Justice wanted to investigate Renee Good for “suspected assault on an officer” after her death. FBI agents drafted a search warrant to obtain her vehicle, but a federal magistrate judge rejected it, “noting that Good was already dead and could not be considered a suspect for a warrant,” according to MS NOW. The DOJ is already investigating her widow, Becca Good.

There have been massive protests in response to Good’s death and the huge presence of federal agents in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and elsewhere in Minnesota. Democratic officials in the state, including Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, have called for the agents to be pulled out. So have many others, including LGBTQ+ politicians.

Smith urged Republicans in Congress to “condemn this violence” and refuse to fund DHS, according to the Times. “All Americans should be outraged,” she said. “If it can happen here, it can happen in your community too.” Minnesota's other U.S. senator, Amy Klobuchar, sent a similar message to Republicans and added, “Our message is really clear: We need ICE out of Minnesota.vThey are not making us more safe.”

Walz told reporters, “Thank God we have video!” The administration's version of events is “nonsense and it’s lies,” he said.

Related: LGBTQ+ officials denounce ICE killing of Minneapolis woman, demand investigation

“Demonstrations have been fierce but very much in control,” The Guardian reports. Walz commented, “Minnesota is meeting fear and division with decency and generosity.” Protests are continuing.

The American Civil Liberties Union and its Minnesota affiliate have issued statements condemning the killing. “Yesterday tens of thousands of Minnesotans from all walks of life marched through the streets in subzero temperatures to demand ICE stop terrorizing our communities, and today we wake up to the heartbreaking news that federal officials killed another person,” said Deepinder Mayell, executive director of the ACLU of Minnesota. “This tragedy is further proof that these federal agents are out of control and critically endangering our communities. ICE and CBP must end their operations in our city before anyone else is harmed, and an independent investigation must be conducted.”

“After the horrific shooting of Renee Good, the Trump administration recklessly escalated and deployed even more heavily armed agents into Minneapolis, and, today, we are again seeing the devastating and predictable consequences,” said Naureen Shah, director of immigration policy and government affairs at the ACLU. “Congress must rein ICE in before what happened in Minneapolis happens yet again. Senators must reject a DHS budget that allows these lawless agencies to continue putting our communities in danger.”

In recent weeks, the ACLU of Minnesota and its partners filed two lawsuits arising from ICE’s actions in the state: Hussen v. Noem, challenging the agency’s warrantless arrests and racial profiling, and Tincher v. Noem, a lawsuit challenging ICE violence and misconduct toward Minnesotans exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble, observe, and protest federal agents’ immigration enforcement activities in our streets. Noem is Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday night that Democrats will not vote to advance the DHS funding package that has been approved by the House. It takes 60 votes to advance to a final vote. "What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city," he posted on social media. "Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no. Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included."

Alex Pretti's parents issued this statement Saturday: “We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.

“I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed.

“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”

Story developing …