'Pink coat lady' who filmed Alex Pretti's killing speaks out: 'It could be any of us'

The woman who captured a critical angle of Alex Pretti's killing on video has spoken out for the first time, further disproving the federal government's account.

Pretti, a 37-year-old VA nurse, was fatally shot by DHS agents on Saturday while observing operations in Minneapolis. Stella Carlson, who has been dubbed the "pink coat lady," was seen in the background of several videos from other observers. Footage taken by her gave the clearest view of the incident, showing that Pretti's legal firearm was confiscated by agents before they killed him.

“I know every time I leave my vehicle or leave my house and I put that whistle around my neck, I know because of Renee Good, the risk,” Carlson told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview. “I think we all knew after that happened, it is now at that point, and it could be any of us.”

Related: Minnesotans mourn Alex Pretti, man killed by Border Patrol agents

Carlson was on her way to a church where she had been hired to paint children's faces for an event when she encountered ICE agents already roughing up protestors in the street. Pretti was helping to direct traffic, which she said "felt like somebody in my opinion, in my background, who was doing a risk assessment and found his place in this moment to be useful."

Video taken by Carlson shows Pretti attempted to help a woman who was being pepper-sprayed before ICE agents wrestled him to the ground and took his holstered firearm, which he had a legal permit to carry. While Pretti was restrained on the ground and unarmed, an unidentified weapon held by one of the agents discharged, and two unidentified agents responded by shooting Pretti at least ten times.

“I knew he was gone because I watched it,” Carlson said. “And then they come over to try to perform some type of medical aid by ripping his clothes open with scissors, and then maneuvering his body around like a rag doll, only to discover that it could be because they wanted to count the bullet wounds to see how many they got, like he’s a deer.”

Pretti’s death followed another fatal shooting by ICE earlier this month, when queer mother Renee Nicole Good was killed by agent Jonathan Ross. Videos showed Good turning her vehicle away from agents when Ross fired, refuting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's claims that she attempted to run them over.

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

Noem and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller have claimed that Pretti brandished his firearm at agents. While footage already proves this is a lie, Carlson also said that she did not even know Pretti was armed, let alone see him threaten agents with his gun.

The Trump administration has deployed nearly 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota as part of an aggressive crackdown on supposed fraud. Gregory Bovino, who has overseen "Operation Metro Surge," and an unspecified number of agents have been ordered out of the state seemingly in response to Pretti's killing.

“If it wasn’t for the collective actions over the past three weeks, I don’t know if I would have been able to stay that long,” Carlson said. “But I knew that this was a moment, and we all have to be brave and we all have to take risks, and we’re all going to be given moments to make that decision. ... And I’m grateful to myself and I’m grateful to anybody who was supportive to me after, to make sure I could get to safety and get that video uploaded to the right people.”