By Walker Orenstein | The Minnesota Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — Bystanders captured on video the moments leading up to when federal agents fatally shot Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 and the immediate aftermath.
The videos show several agents wrestling with Pretti on the ground moments before the shooting.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Pretti “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and “violently resisted” as officers attempted to disarm him.
DHS said “medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.”
DHS said they recovered a gun and two ammunition magazines.
At a news conference, Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino said Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage to agents.”
Here’s what is visible from three videos analyzed by the Minnesota Star Tribune:
One bystander video nearly three minutes in length starts as two people stand near a federal agent who is standing next to an open vehicle door. Whistles and car horns blare.
As the person taking the video walks towards the interaction, a man who appears to be Pretti comes into frame. One hand is holding a cellphone horizontally.
Pretti is not near the agents, and is waving at other vehicles with a motion that typically is meant to encourage people to drive down the street.
Pretti shouts “hey” and walks towards an agent and another person in the road, who is wearing a brown jacket. He is still holding the phone as the agent quickly walks up to the other bystander.
The camera points toward the ground briefly. Another video of the moment shows that agent shoving the person in the brown jacket away from the road.
Both videos capture what happens next: Pretti has his arm around the person who was interacting with the agent. He leads that person away from the agent towards a snowbank on the side of the road.
An agent shoves the other person in road — who is wearing a gray jacket with an orange backpack — and that person falls into the snowbank.
Pretti turns around and gets between the agent and the person with the orange backpack. The agent sprays Pretti with an orange chemical irritant as Pretti holds one hand above his head in the air and turns away.
The agent pulls down Pretti’s arm and continues to spray him as Pretti has his back turned and stumbles over the person on the ground.
Agents spray Pretti again and pull him off the person on the ground. The agents wrestle Pretti to the ground. Pretti does not appear to have brandished a weapon.
A third bystander video taken from the other side of the street begins as at least two federal immigration agents are grappling with Pretti, who is standing. Others quickly swarm in, wrestling him to the ground where he is on his knees and propped up on his elbows. An agent kicks away a cylindrical object that clattered onto the street.