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What the video shows — and doesn’t — about the killing of Alex Pretti

Poynter · Maria Ramirez Uribe · last updated

Video footage of the fatal shooting of Minnesota resident Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers contradicts Trump administration officials’ statements about the event.

Since Pretti’s Jan. 24 killing in Minneapolis, the federal government has provided no evidence to substantiate early statements that he attacked law enforcement and shared no details about what happened before the confrontation and in the moments leading to Border Patrol officers shooting him.

Pretti, 37, was a U.S. citizen who worked as an intensive care unit nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti was “brandishing” a handgun and “attacked” officers. Social media videos verified by multiple news organizations show Pretti, who had a concealed carry permit, holding a cell phone as he directed traffic and tried to help a woman pushed to the ground by an officer.

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