Federal officers involved in Alex Pretti shooting placed on leave, DHS says
Two federal officers fired their guns during Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting, according to an initial review by the Department of Homeland Security obtained by NBC News.
Both agents were placed on administrative leave, according to DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. MS Now was first to report that detail.
The preliminary report, from a Customs and Border Protection internal investigation led by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, was sent to congressional committees Tuesday, including the House Homeland Security and Judiciary committees, according to three sources.
The DHS report said that during the encounter Jan. 24, an officer yelled “He’s got a gun!” multiple times and then “approximately five seconds later a BPA [Border Patrol agent] discharged his CBP-issued Glock 19 and a CBPO [Customs and Border Protection officer] also discharged his CBP-issued Glock 47 at Pretti.”
It’s unclear from the report whether the bullets from both officers’ guns hit Pretti.
The report also did not make any mention of Pretti attacking officers or brandishing a gun, as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed in the aftermath of the shooting.
Multiple videos recorded by eyewitnesses that were verified and analyzed by NBC News show Pretti did not hold a weapon during the struggle as he was surrounded by agents. One video shows that a federal agent removed a gun from Pretti’s waist area just before he was shot.
The report said that after the shooting, a Border Patrol agent said he had possession of Pretti’s gun, which was then secured in his vehicle.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to refrain from “destroying or altering evidence” Sunday, after state investigators were denied access to the crime scene.
The report said its findings were based on CBP documents and body-camera from officers on the scene.
It said that officers were “conducting enforcement actions” in Minneapolis on Saturday morning as part of Operation Metro Surge, near the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and 25th Street.
The operation has seen some 3,000 federal officers and agents deployed to Minnesota — Minneapolis Police Department has just 600 officers — as part of President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on migrant communities and what federal officials say is an attempt to stamp out local corruption and fraud.
The surge has been met with strong local opposition and protests, particularly after a local woman, Renee Good, was shot dead by an immigration officer while at the wheel of her car Jan. 7.
“Several civilians were in the area yelling and blowing whistles. BPAs and CBPOs made several verbal requests for the civilians to stay on the sidewalks and out of the roadway,” the report into Pretti’s death said.
An officer was then “confronted” by two women blowing whistles who failed to comply with an order to move out of the road, according to the report. After the officer pushed them both away, it said, one of them ran to a man the report identified as Pretti.
The officer continued to attempt to move the woman and Pretti out of the road before using his pepper spray on them both, the report said.
“CBP personnel attempted to take Pretti into custody. Pretti resisted CBP personnel’s efforts and a struggle ensued. During the struggle, a BPA yelled, ‘He’s got a gun!’ multiple times,” the report said.
Approximately five seconds later, a Border Patrol agent and a CBP officer both fired shots at Pretti, according to the report.
At 9:02 a.m., CBP staff cut Pretti’s clothes and provided first aid including placing chest seals on his wounds, before fire department medics arrived two minutes later, the report said.
He was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center at approximately 9:32 a.m.
Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller said Tuesday that the initial statement from DHS — which in the hours after the shooting said Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” — was based on reports from CBP staff on the ground.
He said that the White House had provided “clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors.”
“We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” he said.
A DHS spokesperson said: “The initial statement was based on reports from CBP from a very chaotic scene on the ground. That’s precisely why an investigation is underway and DHS will let the facts lead the investigation.”
Miller’s initial comments prompted a significant backlash, including from many in the Republican Party. The operation in Minnesota has no fixed end date and was already facing criticism following the shooting of Good.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Trump was asked about his staff’s assessment that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist.”
“I haven’t heard that, but certainly he shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” the president said.
Both DHS and CBP are conducting investigations into the shooting and the results of an autopsy are still to be released by Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
A CBP spokesperson said the report was released as per standard procedures and provided only an outline of what took place.
“They provide an initial outline of an event that took place and do not convey any definitive conclusion or investigative findings. They are factual reports – not analytical judgments – and are provided to inform Congress and to promote transparency,” the spokesperson said.
The CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility says it investigates “criminal and serious misconduct or mismanagement allegations.”
Melanie Zanona and Kyle Stewart contributed.
