Was he a threat or was he shot dead AFTER his gun was taken? Witnesses who saw ICU nurse Alex Pretti killed by Border Patrol insist he was holding a camera – yet officers had ‘no choice but to fire’
Harrowing video footage of the shooting death of nurse Alex Pretti by a border force agent in Minneapolis was being viewed around the world yesterday.
The US Department of Homeland Security claimed the agent “opened defensive fire” after Mr Pretti approached them with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and branded himself a “domestic terrorist”.
But witnesses insist he was holding a camera and footage of the events casts doubt on government ministry claims that he posed a direct threat to officers.
DHS claimed the officers feared for their lives and had no choice but to fire when Mr. Pretti brandished his gun. But the new images, slowed down and stabilized, seem to paint a different picture; where a police officer pulls out a gun and walks away with the nurse before she is shot.
Mr. Pretti was involved in a fight with federal immigration agents outside the Glam Doll Donuts at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue. In the video, four masked agents can be seen pinning him to the ground before two others join him as he is punched.
Suddenly several gunshots are heard and the agents are seen jumping to their feet as Mr. Pretti lies motionless. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The clip begins with Mr. Pretti, a nurse in the intensive care unit of a Veterans Affairs hospital, being pepper sprayed and forced to his knees.
Multiple DHS agents are seen surrounding him, trying to hold his arms and legs as he is pushed face down onto the pavement.
Alex Pretty is seen holding her hand in the air as she is pepper-sprayed seconds before she is shot
Nurse seen being pushed to the ground by border police officers
A police officer was seen trying to take the gun Pretti was carrying
A masked officer was seen carrying the 37-year-old man’s gun
After further discussion, an agent points a gun at Pretti’s back
Border Force troops surround the motionless body of Pretti, who was killed in Minneapolis on Saturday
As the four agents continue to struggle, an officer wearing a gray jacket and a pink-rimmed baseball cap appears to reach into the back waistband of Mr. Pretti’s pants and pull out a handgun. He then walks away from the group, holding the gun, but in the midst of the confusion, he hears someone else say, ‘Where’s the gun?’ he can be heard asking.
Suddenly, another agent draws his firearm and fires directly into Mr. Pretti’s back. The agents are then seen retreating as more gunshots are heard. Approximately ten shots appear to have been fired.
A separate video also contradicts DHS’s claims. In the photo, Mr. Pretti, wearing a black hat, tan jacket and trousers, can be seen standing in the middle of the road with his phone in his hand. Minutes later, a woman in a white coat is pushed into the snow and the man enters and is pepper-sprayed.
His efforts to protect the woman see him wrestled to the ground by officers before more people join in and try to restrain him.
‘Is there something wrong with you?’ Before gunshots are heard and the audience screams, a man behind the camera can be heard saying:
DHS said officers quickly rushed to administer first aid, but a doctor who witnessed the incident from his nearby apartment disputes that claim.
The unidentified pediatrician claims agents were ‘counting gunshot wounds’ rather than performing CPR.
A woman in a pink coat next to Mr. Pretti in the footage also testified under oath on Saturday night.
Harrowing video footage of nurse Alex Pretti, pictured, being shot to death by a border force agent in Minneapolis was reviewed around the world yesterday.
Federal agents stand amid tear gas near the scene in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where a man identified as Mr. Pretti was fatally shot by armed police trying to detain him.
‘I didn’t see him with a gun,’ he said. ‘They threw him on the ground. ‘Four or five agents tackled him to the ground and started shooting him.’
Federal officials said the officer who shot Mr. Pretti was an eight-year veteran of the Border Patrol. The identity of the representative has not yet been made public.
Mr Pretti’s family criticized the US government’s construction of his death and branded his killers ‘murderers and cowardly thugs’.
“The sickening lies told by the administration about our son are reprehensible and disgusting,” they said in a statement.
‘Alex clearly wasn’t holding a gun when he was attacked by Trump’s murderous and cowardly thugs. Please reveal the truth about our son. He was a good man.”
