Newly released video footage appears to show Alex Pretti confronting federal agents less than two weeks before the 37-year-old ICU nurse was fatally shot by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis.
The videos, published Wednesday by digital outlet The News Movement, capture a January 13 incident during intense community protests against federal immigration enforcement in the city.
In the roughly two-minute clip, a man believed to be Pretti is seen yelling at agents inside an unmarked government vehicle before kicking its taillight as it drives away.
Moments later, a heavily armed agent exits the vehicle and tackles the man to the ground, with additional officers quickly surrounding him. Bystanders can be heard shouting and filming as the chaotic scene unfolds.
Footage appears to show Alex Pretti kicking the taillight off of a federal ICE vehicle before being tackled.
In the video “Pretti” appears to be armed.
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The BBC reported that the man in the footage “has the same coat, facial hair and gait as Alex Pretti and a facial recognition tool suggests a 97% match.” CNN later confirmed that Pretti’s family identified him as the individual shown in the video.
During the altercation, Pretti’s coat is pulled off, briefly revealing what appears to be a handgun in his waistband. Pretti, who reportedly had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, never touched the gun during or after the encounter.
“During the altercation, agents fired tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd,” a narrator for The News Movement says. “They continued to hold the man down before they retreat and he walks away.”
A third video posted to YouTube the day of the incident shows the broader unrest in the neighborhood, with car horns blaring and residents blowing whistles to warn others of federal agents nearby. The confrontation occurred just four blocks from where another individual, Renee Good, had been killed by an ICE officer the week before.
The Minnesota Star Tribune also published separate bystander footage of the same incident. Witness Max Shapiro told the newspaper, “He got slammed to the ground pretty hard.” In the video, Shapiro approaches Pretti afterward and asks if he is okay. Pretti replies, “I’m OK. Are we all OK? Are we all safe?”
A family representative confirmed that Pretti sustained injuries during the January 13 encounter but did not seek medical care. CNN later reported that sources said Pretti suffered a broken rib, though the Department of Homeland Security stated it had “no record of this incident.”
Steve Schleicher, an attorney representing Pretti’s family, strongly rejected any suggestion that the earlier confrontation justified what happened days later.
“A week before Alex was gunned down in the street – despite posing no threat to anyone – he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents,” Schleicher said. “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing.”
Pretti was shot and killed on January 24, becoming the third person killed by federal agents in Minneapolis this month amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
In the aftermath, Trump administration officials claimed Pretti was “brandishing” a gun and intended to “massacre” officers — assertions later contradicted by video footage showing him holding a phone, not a weapon.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” Pretti’s family said in a statement. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs … Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was asked about the newly released footage during a CNN town hall and said he did not believe it was relevant to the fatal shooting.
“I think we should be talking about the circumstances that actually led to the killing and what took place and those circumstances,” Frey said.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz described Pretti as having been “murdered,” while Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that Pretti was a U.S. citizen with no criminal history beyond traffic violations and appeared to be a licensed gun owner.
Pretti’s father, Michael Pretti, told the Associated Press his son was deeply disturbed by what he saw happening in Minneapolis.
“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” he said. “He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others.”
The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday night that it is reviewing the newly released footage as investigations continue.
