Closing post
We’re shutting this blog now and moving our live coverage to another page here. A summary of the latest developments is here below – thanks for reading.
A senior Republic senator has said the credibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security are in the balance after what happened in Minneapolis and has called for a full inquiry.
Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy posted on X:
The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth.
Updated
Interim summary
Less than 24 hours after federal agents killed nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, protesters across the US called for accountability – and an end to Trump’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement in American cities.
Trump administration officials have effectively blamed Pretti – who was lawfully carrying a firearm – for his death. They have cast him as an agitator who posed a threat to law enforcement.
Video undermines that claim, however. Information about Pretti’s background – he worked as an intensive care unit nurse at a local veterans’ hospital – and witness statements contradicted contentions that he was a rogue character.
Details are still emerging, but here is a look at what we have learned this evening.
Alex Pretti’s parents implored: “Please get the truth out about our son” in a statement to local media. They said “Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.” His parents slammed officials’ statements about him, calling them “sickening lies”.
Minnesota federal judge Eric Tostrud ordered federal agencies to preserve evidence related to Pretti’s death. Tostrud’s ruling marked a response to Minnesota officials’ lawsuit Saturday alleging that federal officials were stymying investigative efforts.
Two anonymous witnesses filed sworn statements in court saying they didn’t see Pretti holding a gun. One witness, who filmed the shooting from right behind Pretti, said federal agents tackled him after he came to help someone whom they had pushed down. “I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him,” the witness said. “They shot him so many times … I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.”
One witness of the two who filed sworn statements, a doctor, said they saw the shooting from their apartment window. While the witness saw Pretti yelling at agents, they “did not see him attack the agents or brandish a weapon of any kind”.
Updated
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling out Trump administration officials for justifying Alex Pretti’s death at the hands of federal agents because he was in legal possession of a firearm.
In criticizing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Ocasio-Cortez alluded to the broad conservative support for Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin some six years ago, during racial justice protests.
“How rich is it that she is saying showing up to the scene of a protest with a legally owned weapon should be grounds for a person’s death, execution at the hands of the state, by the same party and the same administration that praises Kyle Rittenhouse,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Earlier Saturday, Noem had remarked: “I don’t know any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition, rather than a sign. This is a violent riot. We have someone showing up with weapons and are using them to assault law enforcement officers.”
There is no evidence that Pretti had any intention of attacking law enforcement officers. Video of the incident also undermines that the shooting of Pretti was in self-defense.
As outcry over Alex Pretti’s death at the hands of federal agents grows, Vice President JD Vance publicly floated an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory.
“This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis,” Vance said in a late-night post on X. “It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities.”
There is no evidence that civilians are engaging in coordinated efforts to sow discord in Minneapolis. There is also not evidence that “far left agitators, working with local authorities” are contributing to the discord in Minneapolis.
Thousands of federal agents were deployed to Minnesota last month in Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement surge. Federal agents have killed two US citizens this month in Minneapolis.
A Minnesota judge has ordered federal agencies to preserve evidence related to the killing of Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents on Saturday.
The ruling came in response to Minnesota officials’ lawsuit alleging that federal officials were blocking local authorities’ investigation of Pretti’s death.
“Defendants, together with their employees, agents, and anyone acting in concert with them, are ENJOINED from destroying or altering evidence related to the fatal shooting involving federal officers,” Minnesota federal judge Eric C. Tostrud said in issuing a temporary restraining order.
The evidence protected by this order is “including but not limited to evidence that Defendants and those working on their behalf removed from the scene and/or evidence that Defendants have taken into their exclusive custody,” Tostrud wrote.
Tostrud scheduled a hearing for Monday at 2 pm local time.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will meet with House Democrats on Sunday, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Democrats attending the meeting are expected to discuss federal agents’ killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. They are also expected to discuss an upcoming Senate vote on Department of Homeland Security funding, per the newspaper.
News of Walz’s meeting with House Democrats comes after Senator Patty Murray, the top Appropriations Committee Democrat, said on Saturday night that she would not vote for the bipartisan funding package she helped broker in its present form.
Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced on Saturday night that she would not vote for the bipartisan government funding package she helped negotiate in its current form.
“Federal agents cannot murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences,” the Washington Democrat wrote on X. “I will NOT support the DHS bill as it stands. The DHS bill needs to be split off from the larger funding package before the Senate—Republicans must work with us to do that. I will continue fighting to rein in DHS and ICE.”
Murray is among a stream of Senate Democrats who announced their opposition to the DHS funding bill hours after the fatal shooting on Saturday. The list included many Democrats who have been unwilling to risk a shutdown by withholding their support for government funding bills.
The outrage from Senate Democrats suggests Republicans, who control 53 seats in the Senate, may not have enough Democratic support to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the chamber.
The House narrowly passed the bill on Thursday, after Democratic support for the measure cratered.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer was among those who declared he would not vote for the spending package: “What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling – and unacceptable in any American city,” Schumer, a New York senator, said in a statement. “Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no.”
A man who says that Alex Pretti worked at the veterans hospital that treated his late father has voiced words of support for him.
“He read my dad’s final salut at the VA after he passed away,” the man said in an Instagram post.
Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents early Saturday, was an intensive care unit nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System.
The man, identified as Mac Randolph on Instagram, said he “never wanted to share this video but his speech is very on point” and posted a video of Pretti’s remarks to his late father.
“Also my Fathers final words to me was continue to fight the good fight. He would be honored in Alex’ sacrifice, and ashamed of this current administration,” the man said. In my Dads words I encourage you all to continue to ‘fight the good fight.’”
Gun rights advocates are criticizing a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor for comments implying that Alex Pretti’s death could have been expected given that he had a firearm around law enforcement agents.
Pretti, who is licensed to carry a gun, was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino claimed that Pretti was shot in self defense, but video contradicts this assertion.
The social media row is playing out between Second Amendment advocates and Bill Essayli, US Attorney for the Central District of California.
“If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you. Don’t do it!” Essayli said on X.
The NRA responded: “This sentiment from the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California is dangerous and wrong. Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
Gun Owners of America voiced a similar sentiment.
“We condemn the untoward comments of @USAttyEssayli. Federal agents are not ‘highly likely’ to be ‘legally justified’ in ‘shooting’ concealed carry licensees who approach while lawfully carrying a firearm,” the group said. “The Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting—a right the federal government must not infringe upon.”
Essayli slammed Gun Owners of America’s comment in an X post, saying: “You’re adding words to mischaracterize my statement. I never said it’s legally justified to shoot law-abiding concealed carriers. My comment addressed agitators approaching law enforcement with a gun and refusing to disarm.”
“I come from a community where multiple LEOs have been killed by firearms in the line of duty. They put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe,” he continued. “The left is playing a very dangerous game by encouraging armed confrontations with police.”
“My advice stands: If you value your life, do not aggressively approach law enforcement while armed. If they reasonably perceive a threat and you fail to immediately disarm, they are legally permitted to use deadly force.”
While these groups are taking issue with Essayli’s comment on gun possession, neither are criticizing the federal law enforcement activity in Minneapolis. The groups did, however, criticize those opposing the surge of federal agents in this city.
“Finally, the Left must stop antagonizing @ICEgov and @CBP agents who are taking criminals off the streets and play a crucial role in protecting communities and upholding the rule of law,” Gun Owners of America said.
NRA said in a separate post: “For months, radical progressive politicians like Tim Walz have incited violence against law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their jobs. Unsurprisingly, these calls to dangerously interject oneself into legitimate law-enforcement activities have ended in violence, tragically resulting in injuries and fatalities.”
Updated
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that the type of gun the Department of Homeland Security claims Alex Pretti was carrying when he fatally shot by border patrol officers on Saturday is a Sig Sauer P320 9mm pistol, which is both popular and frequently carried by US military and law enforcement officers.
While Pretti was licensed to carry a gun, it has not yet been proven that the gun shown in a social media image posted online by DHS was, in fact, his.
The department’s credibility is suspect, given that senior federal officials, including the president, falsely claimed after Pretti was killed that he had approached the federal officers brandishing a gun, when video evidence shows that is not true.
The Minneapolis newspaper also notes: “Federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), also carry P320s, as do many state and local law enforcement officers.”
Minnesota law enforcement agencies warned in court papers that “there is every reason to believe” the Department of Homeland Security will “continue to deny” access to evidence in Alex Pretti’s death--unless a court intervenes.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension(BCA) and Hennepin County Attorney’s Office made this claim in a lawsuit filed in the wake of Pretti’s death at the hands of federal agents on Saturday.
In arguing that DHS will thwart their access to evidence, The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said the feds had blocked their efforts investigating Renee Good’s death. Good was fatally shot by a federal agent on 7 January.
Federal authorities “revoked” BCA’s access to evidence in Good’s death on 8 January “reversing an earlier agreement that a joint investigation would be undertaken and that the two sovereigns would share information,” the suit states.
The lawsuit is asking a judge to decide that federal authorities’ alleged “ongoing denial” of access to evidence “is unconstitutional and unlawful.”
They are also asking a judge to “preliminarily and permanently” prohibit the feds from destroying, altering, or concealing any such evidence.”
The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Minnesota prosecutors sued the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies on Saturday, to protect local law enforcement access to evidence in the death of Alex Pretti. Their Minnesota federal court lawsuit alleges that federal agents blocked local law enforcement’s early investigative efforts.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Hennepin County Attorney’s Office alleged in their lawsuit that federal officials’ “apparent determination to deny State and local law enforcement access to relevant evidence is contrary to core principles of federalism” in the Constitution. (Federalism “refers “the division and sharing of power between the national and state governments.”
“As is typical of an officer-involved shooting involving a federal officer, BCA personnel headed to the scene to investigate the incident,” the suit said. “But federal personnel purported to order Minnesota law enforcement to leave, denying them immediate access to critical evidence necessary to investigate crimes under state law.”
“According to reports, federal personnel apparently seized cell phones and detained witnesses. It is unclear whether federal personnel otherwise processed the scene—let alone how carefully,” the suit further alleges. “Then just a few hours after the shooting, federal personnel left, allowing the perimeter to collapse and potentially spoiling evidence.”
More details soon…
John Mitnick, who was general counsel for Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump White House, slammed the agency and his ex-boss following federal agents’ killing of Alex Pretti on Saturday.
“I am enraged and embarrassed by DHS’s lawlessness, fascism, and cruelty,” Mitnick said on X. “Impeach and remove Trump—now.”
I helped to establish DHS in 2002 and 2003 and later had the homeland security portfolio as a White House Counsel and served as General Counsel of the Department.
— John Mitnick (@JohnMitnick) January 24, 2026
I am enraged and embarrassed by DHS’s lawlessness, fascism, and cruelty.
Impeach and remove Trump—now. https://t.co/4yWbZK2JOo
Testimony from two witnesses to killing of Alex Pretti filed in federal court in ACLU suit against Noem
The testimonies of two witnesses to the killing of Alex Pretti were just filed in federal court in Minnesota, as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of Minneapolis protesters against Kristi Noem and other homeland security officials directing the immigration crackdown in the city.
One witness is a woman who filmed the clearest video of his shooting; the other is a physician who lives nearby and said they were initially prevented by federal officers from rendering medical aid to the gunshot victim.
The names of both witnesses were redacted in the publicly available filings.
In her testimony, woman who filmed the shooting from just behind Pretti identified herself as “a children’s entertainer who specializes in face painting.” She testified that she came to the scene on her way to work because “I’ve been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors.”
She described the harrowing scene of Pretti being tackled by federal officers after coming to the aid of another observer they had shoved to the ground and said that she saw no sign of him holding a gun at any point:
The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them-he wasn’t even turned toward them. It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times… I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him…
I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.
I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don’t feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don’t know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they’re not telling the truth about what happened.
The second witness, a 29-year-old physician, said in their testimony that they saw the shooting from their apartment window near the scene. Before the shooting, the witness said, they could see Pretti yelling at agents, but “did not see him attack the agents or brandish a weapon of any kind.”
After the shooting, when the physician attempted to render medical aid, they were initially prevented from doing so. “At first the ICE agents wouldn’t let me through,” they said. “But none of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR, and I could tell that the victim was in critical condition. I insisted that the ICE agents let me assess him.”
When the physician finally convinced the agents to let them through, they said that they were confused as to why the victim was on his side but instead of checking his pulse or performing CPR the officers “appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.”
The victim had “at least three bullet wounds in his back”, the doctor said, in addition to one on his upper left chest and another possible gunshot wound in his neck.
Updated
Protests spread across US cities on Saturday – including Minneapolis, New York City, Boston and Providence, Rhode Island – after Pretti was fatally shot. Here are some of the scenes:
You can read more about the protests here:
Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy issued an ominous warning in response to Pam Bondi’s letter, which blamed Minnesota for Alex Pretti’s death at the hands of federal agents.
“This has never been about public safety,” Murphy said in a video posted to X. “This is likely about trying to rig and steal the election.”
Murphy noted that Bondi’s letter included a provision about voter records. The letter demanded that Minnesota “allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1960.”
“Donald Trump is wildly unpopular, he’s not committed to Democracy,” he said. Murphy added shortly thereafter, “He’s saying to Minneapolis: ‘if you don’t give me control of the voter rolls, then ICE isn’t leaving.’”
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, said that Minneapolis and Minnesota’s immigration policies are to blame for Alex Pretti’s death at the hands of federal agents.
“Why this happened in Minneapolis is because you have a mayor, you have a governor who has declared Minneapolis a ‘sanctuary city,’” Bondi said in a Fox News interview.
She doubled down on this position in a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Saturday, saying “the State of Minnesota has refused to enforce the law, and the consequences are heartbreaking.”
Bondi’s rhetoric comes as Minneapolis and other cities across the US are seeing protests hours after Pretti’s killing. Details surrounding the shooting are developing.
Federal authorities quickly cast Pretti as an aggressor, without offering evidence to prove this, and bystander video of his shooting appears to contradict such claims.
The feds are also blaming city and state officials for chaos that has unfolded since thousands of federal immigration officers were deployed to Minneapolis in December. Residents for weeks have reeled from these agents’ heavy-handed tactics, spurring extensive protests.
Federal agents have killed two Minneapolis residents, both US citizens, this month.
Amnesty International USA has decried the ongoing presence of ICE and US Border Patrol in cities, calling the shooting of Alex Pretti “the latest devastating reminder” that agents “are not making our communities safer.”
“Instead, they are operating with impunity, using deadly force in broad daylight, terrorizing neighborhoods, and tearing young children from their families,” Amy Fischer, director for refugee and migrant rights with the NGO, said in a statement.
“This killing is not an isolated incident. It is part of a broader pattern in which ICE, with its paramilitary-style operations, has been unleashed to carry out violent and abusive enforcement and detention practices with little oversight or accountability,” Fischer also said. “From deadly street operations to the torture, neglect and other abuses documented in immigrant detention facilities, ICE has repeatedly violated human rights while facing virtually no consequences.”
Pretti’s death at the hands of federal agents on Saturday marks the second time this month that federal law enforcement fatally shot a civilian.
Alex Pretti's parents urge: 'Please get the truth out about our son'
Alex Pretti’s parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, have issued a statement following their son’s death at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.
“We are heartbroken but also very angry,” they said in the statement, which was read aloud on local news channel KARE 11. “Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.”
“Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.”
“I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” they said. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed.”
“Please get the truth out about our son,” they continued. “He was a good man.”
Updated
As news continues to develop on protests across the US after federal agents killed Alex Pretti, videos posted to social media show that seemingly thousands of Americans are braving bitter temperatures to call for accountability.
In Boston, hundreds marched with signs bearing calls to action such as “Abolish and prosecute ICE,” “ICE OUT,” and “RESIST.”
Hundreds in Boston march to demand justice for Alex Pretti, murdered by CBP agents occupying Minneapolis as part of Trump’s mass intimidation campaign.
— Party for Socialism and Liberation (@pslnational) January 24, 2026
From Boston to Minneapolis, federal agents out of our communities! pic.twitter.com/w5TZMsBb1H
Chicago, which has been an ongoing target of Donald Trump’s ramped up immigration enforcement, also saw at least one protest. Some demonstrators there held signs calling for a general strike.
Protesters have started demonstrating in cities across the US after federal agents killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.
In New York City, protesters gathered in the Union Square area of Manhattan, chanting: “Say it once, say it twice: We will not put up with ICE!”
RIGHT NOW! NYC has erupted in protest after ICU nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti was killed by federal agents in MN this morning. Minnesota started it—it’s time for a national shutdown! ICE OUT OF EVERYWHERE! pic.twitter.com/dmBYxo60fn
— The People's Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) January 24, 2026
Providence, Rhode Island, saw hundreds demonstrating in front of the Department of Homeland Security building, saying: “shut it down!”
BREAKING: Hundreds protest in front of DHS headquarters in Providence, RI after the ICE killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/Fm2LeJ6z2i
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) January 24, 2026
Here are some of the latest scenes in south Minneapolis, where a 37-year-old nurse, Alex Pretti, was shot dead by federal personnel today as they were engaged in an immigration enforcement action against another individual.
There has been a lot of observation of federal officers spraying protesters in the face with painful pepper spray from very close range even after they have already been pinned to the ground by other officers. Here’s a new one.
Minneapolis
Federal personnel have left the scene where their fatal shooting of a member of the public occurred earlier today. Protests on the street now have been reported as peaceful. A small number of National Guard troops has been sent by Minnesota to stand by.
A group called the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus has issued a statement about the killing of Alex Pretti this morning, a 37-year-old nurse, by federal agents who wrestled him to the ground and shot him.
Pretti owned a gun and the authorities say he had it with him, and the federal government issued images of a pistol, but no-one has been able to say if he drew it, tried to draw it or threatened officers. The Minneapolis police said he owned a gun legally.
The gun owners caucus said on X: “We are deeply concerned by this morning’s reports that a federal law enforcement operation in Minneapolis resulted in the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents. According to local officials, the man was legally armed, a firearm was recovered at the scene, and he is believed to have been a lawful gun owner and permit to carry holder…Despite widespread speculation regarding intent, there has been no evidence produced indicating an intent to harm the officers. We are calling for a full and transparent investigation by both state and federal authorities.”
It added: “Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms – including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights” [the constitutional rights to free speech and peaceable assembly].
You can read the full post here.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has this to say on X: “Thank God for the patriots of @ICEgov — we have your back 100%. You are SAVING the country. Shame on the leadership of Minnesota — and the lunatics in the street.”
There is sharp disagreement between the federal government and the authorities in Minnesota about who is causing chaos and who is trying to make the city safer.
US vice president JD Vance said today on X, after the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal officers who pinned him to the street, that when he visited Minneapolis two days ago “what the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents wanted more than anything was to work with local law enforcement so that situations on the ground didn’t get out of hand.”
But what is going on in Minneapolis is that thousands of federal immigration officers surged into the city and began targeting residents as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
Local leaders did not support this federal effort and were not prepared to have state or local police and sheriffs assist ICE. At the same time, many residents in this liberal city were outraged at the heavy presence of ICE, and also Border Patrol agents, with these federal personnel using aggressive tactics to apprehend people for anti-immigration reasons.
ICE and Border Patrol then also turned their tactics on protesters and community observers who warn people in neighborhoods when an immigration enforcement appears to be imminent. The temperature went way up (even as everyone was out in snow and ice and Arctic conditions). Then Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE officer on January 7 even as she told the Fed she “was not mad” at him and started to drive away (after another officer told her to “get out of the fucking car”), and protesters became angrier and efforts by the Feds to stop or discourage them became more violent.
Local leaders demanded ICE leave. More federal officers arrived and started calling any protesters rioters and agitators. And on Saturday Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal officers, further enraging residents and local leaders. Local leaders once again asked the Feds to leave, saying their conduct was “an abomination”.
My colleague, Maanvi Singh, noted in this piece: “The government has assigned some 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota in what it is calling its largest enforcement operation to date. This show of force has an outsized impact in Minneapolis and St Paul, which have a population that is less than one-fifth that of Los Angeles.There are now so many federal immigration officers operating in the region that they outnumber the Minneapolis police force five to one.”
Updated
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), trying to talk about the huge, dangerous winter storm that is blasting across the US.
But she just asked the gathered media representatives if anyone wants to ask her about the storm and the reporters only want to ask her about the fatal shooting in Minneapolis.
Asked whether the federal government is willing to have Minnesota investigate the shooting of Alex Pretti earlier today, she said “Who would trust Governor Walz at this point?”
An angry Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, held a press conference earlier and demanded that the state investigate the killing.
Meanwhile, you can follow all the news about the monster storm that is forecast to affect more than 200 million people across the US with our live updates here.
DHS secretary Kristi Noem has followed other federal leaders in declining to answer journalists’ questions about whether Alex Pretti was holding or “brandishing” a gun when he was shot dead by a federal agent or agents this morning.
Noem first said that Pretti “attacked those officers and had a weapon on him” and she just said he “showed up with a weapon and ammunition”, which is also inexact. The Minneapolis police said Pretti was licensed to carry a weapon. But no-one from the Trump administration so far questioned in public will answer clearly whether Pretti had his gun drawn or tried to draw it.
Noem was asked to comment on witness reports that Pretti had been disarmed by the Feds before he was shot. She ignored the question.
However, she did say that “an HSI agent’s finger was bitten off.” The Guardian is not aware of this reported incident. If we hear more on this, we’ll update you.
HSI is one of the branches of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under the umbrella of the DHS. It stands for Homeland Security Investigations.
Here’s our explainer on who is who on the frontline of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge.
DHS Secretary Noem calls death 'tragic' but says agents were doing their 'lawful duty'
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is beginning a press conference.
She has called the death of Alex Pretti today, shot dead by a federal agent in Minneapolis, a “tragic situation”.
She said that Pretti was killed by the Feds “as they carried out their lawful duty to keep Americans safe in the face of illegal aliens”.
Noem said that agents were trying to apprehend a person who was in the US illegally and who had a record of domestic assault, disorderly conduct and driving without a license.
In the process of that, she said, as Border Patrol said earlier, the officers were approached by a third party, an armed man carrying a 9mm pistol.
The federal authorities have still not said clearly whether Pretti was holding his gun or drew it or attempted to draw it. He was carrying it legally, local police have said.
But Noem said: “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived on the scene to…kill law enforcement officers.”
Asked by reporters “did he brandish a gun?” she said that “this individual showed up to impede a law enforcement operation and assaulted our officers. I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign. This is a violent riot when you have someone showing up with weapons.” But no-one will actually answer the specific question.
Updated
US Congressman Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, has called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached and has denounced statements from the administration about the man DHS agents killed earlier today.
Apparently, the Trump administration and its secret police only support the First and Second Amendments when it’s convenient to them,” the representative from Mississippi said, referring to the rights under the US constitution to free speech and having a gun.
Thompson called on Democrats in the US Senate to vote against a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that passed the lower chamber last week, the Associated Press reports.
This is un-American and has to stop. The House must immediately take steps to impeach Kristi Noem,” he said.
CNN a little earlier aired an interview with a man called Nilson Barahona, who was in a donut shop outside of which Alex Pretti was shot dead by a federal agent this morning.
Barahona, who was on the verge of tears, told the cable news network that was he saw was federal immigration enforcement officers try to apprehend a man who then went into a business and locked the door out of their reach.
A woman who was protesting against the federal officers was being pulled by them and a man, who later turned out to be Pretti, went to her assistance, Barahona further said, as reported by CNN.
The officers then turned on the man and it ended in a confrontation where he, Pretti, was shot dead, with Barahona telling CNN that he didn’t see Pretti holding or reaching for his gun (which he was legally entitled to own and carry in Minneapolis, according to the local authorities), contrary to what the federal government has said.
One of Donald Trump’s top advisers, and the architect of his immigration policy, Stephen Miller wrote on social media that Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old who was killed by a federal immigration agent was “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement”.
A reminder that border patrol official, Gregory Bovino, said that the man who was killed was armed and approached officers attempting to arrest a person who entered the US illegally. Bovino said an officer shot the US citizen in self-defense. However, bystander video footage of the incident contradicts officials’ assessment.
In his social media posts today, Donald Trump repeated his claims that federal immigration agents descended on Minneapolis because of large-scale fraud cases in Minnesota, where federal funds for several social service programs, from Medicaid to child-nutrition in the Covid pandemic, were misused.
A number of Somali-Americans are defendants in these cases, which has fueled vitriol, particularly from right wing commentators, against the community. The president has routinely denigrated the Somali population in the state, often launching into xenophobic rants during public events.
On Truth Social the president suggested that the unrest in Minneapolis – including today’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents – was “a COVER UP for this Theft and Fraud”. Trump chastised Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, writing that “these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota.”
Trump also went after one of his mainstay Democratic targets in Congress, Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar. A Somali-American lawmaker that Trump has frequently insulted with racist remarks, and threats that she should be “sent back to Somalia”. Omar came to the US as a refugee when she was a teenager before becoming an American citizen more than 20 years ago. After today’s shooting, Trump questioned: “Why does Ilhan Omar have $34 Million Dollars in her account?”. This week, the president called for a criminal investigation into the congresswoman’s finances, claiming that “there is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician”.
The scene in south Minneapolis in the immediate vicinity of where a federal agent shot dead Alex Pretti has changed quite significantly in the last couple of hours.
Immediately after Pretti was shot, protesters became very agitated and federal personnel were firing tear gas and flash bangs in scenes of chaos, with people coughing and choking.
Local leaders appealed for calm. Not long after that, state and local police officers arrived on the scene and could be seen standing between protesters and federal officers.
But a bit later, the feds left the scene. The local and state police also left because they were so few in number, leaders said. The streets immediately around where the shooting took place are currently orderly and relatively quiet, with several hundred protesters standing and demonstrating against ICE but without the tension that accompanied the situation earlier.
Flowers been placed and the beginnings of a makeshift memorial are emerging at the spot where Pretti was shot dead. Someone has lit a small bonfire to keep people warm as the temperature in Minneapolis right now is minus 3 Fahrenheit, or minus 19 Celsius.
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Senate Democrats condemn fatal Minneapolis shooting ahead of pivotal DHS funding vote
Senate lawmakers have started reacting to the news that federal immigration agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis today. In response, some Democratic senators have said they plan to vote against a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill that’s set to hit the upper-chamber floor this week on Capitol Hill.
On Thursday, the House passed the bill to keep the department funded through 30 September. A reminder that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) falls under the DHS.
Despite, top Democrats in the House pushing a vote against the legislation – which would keep ICE’s budget at $10bn – it advanced by a slim margin.
“The Senate should not vote to keep funding this rampage,” said Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut. “We are not powerless. We do not need to accept this.”
In a post on social media, senator Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, said he “will do everything I can to get these goon squads out of our communities and hold them accountable — starting by not voting to give them another dime.”
Meanwhile, Massachusetts lawmaker Ed Markey said that “Americans are watching in outrage while their neighbors are murdered on tv and cities get taken over. Senators have the power to do something about it. We need to stop funding DHS now.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen was in agreement as he reposted the video of Pretti’s death. “Congress must cut-off funding for these heinous acts NOW!,” he wrote.
The DHS budget bill will be part of a larger appropriations package heading to the Senate this week. It will need to clear a 60-vote hurdle before funding lapses on 30 January. All eyes will be on Senate Democrats to see if they hold-out and risk another government shutdown, just two months after a record-breaking closure over healthcare provisions.
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The president of the Minnesota Organization of Registered Nurses (Mnorn) has made a post on Facebook about the fatal shooting of Veterans Association intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, who was killed by a federal agent this morning.
Cami Peterson-DeVries, the president of the professional association, said nurses were in mourning.
“Today, our nursing community is grieving. We have lost a fellow registered nurse to an act of violence connected to immigration enforcement. Regardless of where each of us stands on the issues surrounding this moment, the loss of a nurse, a caregiver, a colleague, a human being cuts us deeply.
This message is not about politics. It is about mourning a life taken too soon and honoring the calling we all share,” she wrote.
“As nurses, we understand loss in a way others may not understand. We know how quickly life can change, how fragile safety can feel, and how pain reaches far beyond one individual to families, coworkers, patients, and communities. When one nurse is lost, all of us feel it.” You can read the rest of the post here.
Man shot and killed by federal agents identified as Alex Pretti
The Minnesota man who was killed by federal agents on Saturday has been identified as Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse working in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System.
It’s the second fatal shooting this month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in addition to another non-fatal shooting, amid a major crackdown in Minnesota by federal agents.
Pretti attended nursing school at the University of Minnesota, where he was also a junior scientist beginning in 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“He wanted to help people,” said Dimitri Drekonja, chief of infectious diseases at the VA hospital and professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, who worked with Pretti at the hospital and on a research project. “He was a super nice, super helpful guy – looked after his patients. I’m just stunned.”
He described Pretti as an “outstanding” nurse and a hard worker, quick with a joke and an “infectious” spirit. “He was such a good dude,” Drekonja told the Guardian. “I just love working with him.”
Michael Pretti, Alex’s father, echoed Drekonja’s assessment, describing his son to the Associated Press as someone who “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 felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others,” the elder Pretti said.
You can read more on Pretti here.
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The man who was shot and killed by a federal officer during an immigration operation, 37-year-old Alex Pretti, worked as an intensive care unit nurse, his parents have told the Associated Press.
Minneapolis’s police chief, Brian O’Hara, said the man’s only previous interaction with law enforcement as far as he knew was for traffic tickets.
“And we believe he is a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry [that weapon],” he said.
Federal leaders have not answered questions about whether Pretti was brandishing a gun The border patrol commander Greg Bovino said Pretti was shot when he was trying to attack federal officers, who tried to disarm him and fired in their own defense. Local leaders have not been able to confirm any of those details.
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Summary
The situation in Minneapolis is currently very fluid, less than six hours after a man was shot dead in the street by a federal immigration agent. We’ll continue to bring you the news as it happens.
Protesters are on the streets and so are federal, state and local law enforcement. Although there have been separate press conferences held by local and federal leaders, much remains unknown, unclear or unconfirmed about what happened and why.
Here’s where things stand:
Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, has staged national guard troops ready to help out in the keeping of order in Minneapolis amid protests and outrage at violent conduct by federal immigration personnel. He had activated them earlier, in January, putting them under his orders to be ready if needed. Staging essentially means gathering and preparing to be on the streets. Initially, some troops are going to guard a federal building.
Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform accusing Walz and Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, of “inciting insurrection” with their exhortations for the US president to end the surge of federal immigration enforcement personnel to the city. Trump says they are there to make the city safer; local leaders say they are making the city much less safe, as the feds instill fear and behave violently.
Tim Walz gave a strongly worded press conference, calling the actions of the immigration enforcement officers that surged into Minneapolis a “federal occupation”. He said he has seen bystander footage of the fatal shooting this morning of a man who apparently approached federal officers and then was shot by one of them and he thought it was “sickening”.
Border patrol commander Greg Bovino held a press conference at which he said that immigration enforcement agents were trying to apprehend a man they were targeting as being in the US illegally when a third party approached, armed, and was taken out by an experienced officer who shot him as a defensive action.
The Minnesota Star Tribune has named the person shot dead by the federal authorities this morning as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, from south Minneapolis. The Associated Press later confirmed him as Alex Pretti and that his parents told the news agency that he had worked as a nurse in a hospital intensive care unit.
Minneapolis’s police chief, Brian O’Hara, said, before the victim of the shooting was identified, that the city authorities knew the his name and he was a white man, aged 37, a resident of the city and a US citizen.
The shooting by federal immigration personnel this morning was recorded on video and posted online by witnesses. David Bier, the Cato institute director of immigration studies, shared the distressing video on X. It matched the reported location of the shooting mentioned by officials, and showed a man being wrestled to the ground by several law enforcement officers before being shot several times. At least two officers can be seen with weapons in their hands.
Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, called on Donald Trump to “end this operation” of federal immigration enforcement agents and officers surging into Minneapolis, and demanded that the US president “take action now to remove these federal agents”. At the same press conference, police chief O’Hara acknowledged immense anger in the city at the shooting but pleaded for calm.
The Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE and the border patrol, said that the man shot dead by federal immigration enforcement earlier this morning was pronounced dead at the scene. The federal agency said an agent fired “defensive shots”. It characterized protesters as “rioters”, saying there were about 200 people on the scene in south Minneapolis trying to “obstruct and assault law enforcement”.
Protesters were heard calling “shame, shame” at officers after the shooting of a man by a federal agent this morning, blowing whistles and shouting for ICE to leave the city. The feds responded with teargas and flash bang grenades.
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Donald Trump’s post to Truth Social includes a picture that the Department of Homeland Security has been issuing of what the federal government says was the pistol in the possession of the man shot dead in Minneapolis this morning by a federal agent during an immigration enforcement activity.
The US president began his post: “This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves – Not an easy thing to do! Why does Ilhan Omar have $34 Million Dollars in her account? And where are the Tens of Billions of Dollars that have been stolen from the once Great State of Minnesota? We are there because of massive Monetary Fraud, with Billions of Dollars missing, and Illegal Criminals that were allowed to infiltrate the State through the Democrats’ Open Border Policy. We want the money back, and we want it back, NOW. Those Fraudsters who stole the money are going to jail, where they belong! This is no different than a really big Bank Robbery. Much of what you’re witnessing is a COVER UP for this Theft and Fraud.”
The Guardian will unpick some of that shortly. Coming up immediately, though, a summary of the events of this day so far.
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Trump accuses Minnesota leaders of 'inciting insurrection'
Donald Trump has posted a wild statement on his Truth Social platform.
The most coherent portion of it says this about Minneapolis: “The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric! Instead, these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States of America.” This is a reference to a local fraud scandal, more on that in a moment.
The post also said (upper case the president’s own): “LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB! 12,000 Illegal Alien Criminals, many of them violent, have been arrested and taken out of Minnesota. If they were still there, you would see something far worse than you are witnessing today!”
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Walz says he is 'staging' Minnesota National Guard troops
Tim Walz’s broadsides continue. At a press conference led by the governor of Minnesota, which is ongoing, he slammed the professionalism of the hordes of federal agents and officers sent to Minneapolis to conduct immigration enforcement.
“Stop calling them law enforcement. We have enforcement who are doing an incredible job,” he said.
A few moments before, Walz said the federal surge into the city has been counterproductive.
“We want calm and peace and normalcy back to our lives. They want chaos,” he said.
Walz is asserting that Minnesota will investigate this shooting, not the federal government. “We will investigate, period,” he said.
The federal government has said that it will investigate the death. So there is a clash on the immediate horizon.
Walz also said he was “staging” National Guard troops.
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Walz accuses Trump administration of spinning 'nonsense and lies' about shooting
Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, is delivering a blistering speech against the federal government’s anti-immigration surge into Minneapolis, that has been going on for several weeks now.
Less than six hours after a federal agent shot a man dead today, Walz accused the Trump administration of spinning an account of the shooting that “is nonsense and it’s lies”.
He has been saying, since local resident Renee Good was shot dead by ICE on 7 January that federal personnel were creating a less safe situation on the ground in Minneapolis, not more safe.
Walz just said, abstractly addressing the Trump administration: “You ask for peace, we give it – and we get shot in the face on the streets, coming out of a doughnut shop.”
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Minnesota governor decries 'federal occupation', calls fatal shooting 'sickening'
Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, is giving a strongly worded press conference this moment, calling the actions of the immigration enforcement surge into Minneapolis a “federal occupation”.
He said he has seen bystander footage of the fatal shooting this morning of a man who apparently approached federal officers and then was shot by one of them “sickening”.
Walz, a Democrat, once again called on Donald Trump to take the federal personnel out of Minneapolis.
He called the conduct of immigration enforcement teams in the city “unprofessional” and “an abomination”, and he said officers were acting with “brutality”.
Addressing the US president, Walz said: “Remove this force from Minnesota. They are sowing chaos and violence.”
He said: “I call on Americans to see the cruelty of what ICE is doing on our streets.” He called for calm from the public, saying: “We cannot meet violence with violence.”
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Border patrol commander addresses public
Greg Bovino, commander of the federal border patrol agency, is now holding a press conference in Minneapolis.
He said that this morning federal immigration officers tried to apprehend a person they were targeting for immigration enforcement and, at that time, the officers were approached by a man with a gun.
Bovino said that officers tried to disarm the man but he ended up shot dead, in a defensive action.
Bovino was asked by gathered journalists if the man brandished the gun he appeared to have and the border patrol commander said that element of the incident was under investigation. It was unclear from his press conference how many shots were fired in total and how many bullets hit the man.
Bovino said the officer who killed the man has eight years of experience in the job and “extensive training”.
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Local reports name shooting victim as Alex Jeffrey Pretti
The Minnesota Star Tribune has named the person shot dead by the federal authorities this morning as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, from south Minneapolis.
The main newspaper of the city has cited sources it cannot name but who are “familiar with the investigation.”.
The Mineapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, earlier said the man, whom he did not name, had no serious criminal history and a record that showed parking tickets.
The Guardian has not independently received confirmation of the victim’s identity but we are monitoring all legitimate news sources closely and making inquiries and will bring you the news as it develops.
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Just a day ago, tens of thousands of Minnesotans had marched in Minneapolis and otherwise participated in an economic “strike” to protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surge in the state.
About 100 clergy members were arrested by police during the action, video footage showed.
Beside faith leaders, the “no work, no school, no shopping” day of protest was kicked off by community leaders and labor unions – and included actions around the state, plus business closures in solidarity.
The “Day of Truth & Freedom” protest came in the wake of the killing of Renee Good, the unarmed woman shot by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
The protesters’ demands include that ICE leave Minnesota, that the ICE officer who killed Good be legally held accountable, an end to additional federal funding for ICE, and for the agency to be investigated for human rights and constitutional violations.
Hundreds of local businesses in Minnesota announced closures in solidarity. Thousands of people took the day off from their jobs to join the action, while others participated by not shopping on Friday. The Minneapolis city council endorsed the day of action and the general strike.
You can read more in our report here.
In bystander video of the fatal incident in Minneapolis today, many details remain unexplained, but the viewer can see a tussle of five or six agents in dull green uniforms pinning someone to the ground and some of those agents raising their arms and appearing to punch the person.
The person on the ground also appears to be being kicked by the agents who are restraining them and shots ring out. It is not yet officially disclosed if the man on the ground had a firearm actually upon his person at that time or if he was trying to reach it or use it. The federal government has said the man was wielding a pistol.
The Minneapolis authorities say that the federal government has not told them yet exactly what led up to the violent detention and, ultimately, the fatal shooting of the man.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz has called for the state to lead the investigation into this incident.
Reuters adds that federal officers were wearing masks and tactical vests and were wrestling with a man on the snow-covered street of south Minneapolis before shots are heard. In footage on social media, the man falls to the ground, and several more shots are heard.
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Donald Trump has been briefed on the events in Minneapolis as they continue to unfold today, after federal officers apprehended a local man earlier and he was shot dead in the street by the authorities.
Local and state leaders have demanded that the US president call off the thousands of federal personnel that have surged into the city as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda.
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The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said it was his understanding that multiple federal officers were involved in the incident this morning where a man was shot dead by government personnel.
O’Hara said that the Minnesota authorities have put national guard troops on stand-by.
The scene where the shooting took place this morning in the south of the city appears to be calming down somewhat at this moment.
The situation earlier was very chaotic, with the federal agents and officers firing teargas at the protesters gathered where a man was shot dead by federal officers today.
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Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, has posted on X saying: “I told the White House the state must lead the investigation” into the fatal shooting of a man in Minneapolis this morning.
“Let state investigators secure justice. As we process the scene, stay peaceful and give them space. The state has the personnel to keep people safe – federal agents must not obstruct our ability to do so,” he said.
Local and federal authorities have been sharply at odds over the escalated immigration enforcement efforts taking place in the city over the last few weeks, with Minneapolis and Minnesota leaders furious about the unilateral dispatch of aggressive federal agents to the city by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.
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Man shot dead was 37-year-old US citizen, Minneapolis police chief says
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara has said the city authorities know the identity of the man killed by federal officers this morning, but the name is not being released at this time.
He described the person shot dead as a white man, a resident of the city and a US citizen. O’Hara said the victim was 37 years old. Wire services had previously said the man was 51.
O’Hara said that the federal authorities have not provided any details about today’s incident to the police department and city authorities.
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Open-source analysis of Minneapolis shooting begins
As we piece together what happened in Minneapolis on Saturday, where another shooting by federal immigration agents was recorded on video and posted online by witnesses, instant analysis of the images by open-source experts and non-experts has begun.
David Bier, the Cato institute director of immigration studies, shared the distressing video on X.
The video matches the reported location of the shooting mentioned by officials, and shows a man being wrestled to the ground by several law enforcement officers before being shot several times. At least two officers can be seen with weapons in their hands.
Open-source experts have begun to parse the apparent video evidence online, which seemed to capture the sound of an initial shot causing the agents to retreat from the man before one fires at him repeatedly on the ground.
The journalist Eoin Higgins reposted the clip on Bluesky, with suggestion that that one portion of the recording might show that an officer in grey “disarms the man on the ground being beaten – BEFORE shots were fired”.
The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, is now telling a press conference that his department does not yet know what happened immediately before the shooting.
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Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, has just spoken at the press conference that is ongoing in the city.
After Renee Good was shot dead by ICE, he told the agency to “get the fuck out of” the city.
Moments ago at this conference he urged residents to: “Stand with Minneapolis. Stand up for America. Recognize that your children will ask what side you were on. Your grandchildren will ask what you did to act to prevent this from happening again … What did you do to protect your nation?”
He added: “This is not what America is about. This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue. This administration and everyone involved in this operation should be reflecting. They should be reflecting right now and asking: what exactly are you accomplishing?”
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Minneapolis officials plead for calm, tell federal enforcement to leave
The police chief of Minneapolis, Brian O’Hara, has kicked off a press conference by acknowledging that people are angry about the latest fatal shooting by federal law enforcement of a man in the city.
He called on federal personnel in the city to conduct themselves with discipline and humanity.
Then he said that members of the public gathered to protest at the scene of the shooting in south Minneapolis were taking part in an “unlawful assembly”.
“There is a lot of anger and questions around what has happened,” O’Hara said.
And he called for calm and begged the public not to damage the city.
Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, is now talking and we will bring you his remarks asap. He’s calling on Donald Trump to “end this operation” and “take action now to remove these federal agents”.
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In a statement sent to the Guardian, assistant secretary of homeland security Tricia McLaughlin said that at 9.05am local time, “as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis” against a person they said was in the country illegally, who she said was “wanted for violent assault”, “an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.”
McLaughlin said that “the officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted” and that “more details on the armed struggle are forthcoming.”
“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots” she said, adding: “Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.”
She added that the man also had “2 magazines and no ID”.
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Man shot dead was pronounced dead at the scene, DHS says
The Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE and Border Patrol, has just said that the man shot dead by federal immigration enforcement earlier this morning was pronounced dead at the scene.
The federal agency said an agent fired “defensive shots”. It is now characterizing protesters as “rioters”, saying there are about 200 people on the scene in south Minneapolis trying to “obstruct and assault law enforcement”.
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Illinois governor JB Pritzker has called for a bipartisan reponse to this shooting from US state governors.
“I am asking my fellow Republican and Democratic Governors across the nation to have a unified response. We must all stand against the lawlessness being inflicted in our states,” he posted on X moments ago.
He then posted: “Masked federal agents in Minnesota just shot and killed another person. We must put a stop to Trump’s ICE. Now. Stop the funding, stop the occupations, stop the killings.”
Mary Moriarty, the top prosecutor of Hennepin county, where Minneapolis is located, has issued a statement saying that her team is working with state law enforcement, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), to coordinate on a response to this shooting.
“The scene must be secured by local law enforcement for the collection and preservation of evidence,” Moriarty said. “We expect the federal government to allow the BCA to process the scene.”
After Renee Good was killed, the FBI at first cooperated with Minnesota law enforcement and then abruptly shut them out and said it would be only a federal investigation. This outraged state and county officials.
After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home.
One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: “Boo hoo.” Agents elsewhere shoved a yelling protester into a car, the Associated Press reports.
The intersection where the shooting occurred has been blocked off, and border patrol agents are on the scene wielding batons.
Teargas has been deployed and the crack of munitions such as flash-bang grenades used in crowd control can be heard close to the scene of this shooting in south Minneapolis.
Clouds of teargas are floating in a haze above the street, while protesters are not leaving the scene.
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A US government source directly briefed on the situation rapidly unfolding in Minneapolis has confirmed reports to the Guardian that the man shot by federal immigration officers this morning was armed.
The source, who cannot be named because they are not authorized to give out details at this time, provided an image of a handgun next to a loaded magazine, connected to the man the Department of Homeland Security is calling a suspect.
“Suspect had a firearm with two magazines,” the source said. “Situation evolving. Will get … more information ASAP.”
The Guardian has not yet been able independently to verifiy this information.
Man shot by federal officers in Minneapolis has died - reports
A 51-year-old man shot by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis has died, a hospital record obtained by the Associated Press shows.
CNN has also reported that the man shot during the federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis has died this morning. The Minnesota Star Tribune has also reported the man has been killed.
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Minnesotans have been protesting against the White House’s decision to flood the relatively small, liberal midwestern city of Minneapolis with federal immigration enforcement personnel in recent weeks.
Those demonstrations have become a daily constant in much greater volume since an ICE officer shot dead resident (and US citizen) Renee Good on 7 January instead of stepping out of the way of her departing car.
At the time there were fears of a things slipping out of control in the city if protests turned into riots or mass law-breaking.
But in fact demonstrations have been fierce but very much in control. Federal officers and agents from ICE officers to the border patrol have drawn outrage for aggressive and sometimes violent tactics against people they are targeting for immigration enforcement but also against protesters and mere bystanders or passersby.
Governor Tim Walz said: “Minnesota is meeting fear and division with decency and generosity.”
The Guardian’s immigration reporter Maanvi Singh said from her experience she had to agree with descriptions of the city as feeling like it is “under siege”.
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Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz has called for Donald Trump to end his administration’s aggressive federal immigration enforcement operations in the state the began a few weeks ago and has caused chaos, injury and death.
“I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. This is sickening,” Walz wrote on the X social media platform.
He continued: “The president must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
Minneapolis officials are urgently looking into the multiple reports that federal enforcement has shot a man.
Shooting in Minneapolis
Officials in Minneapolis have received reports of another shooting involving federal law enforcement officers in the city during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown there.
The shooting comes less than three weeks after Renee Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in the city in Minnesota while she tried driving away from a confrontation with officers. The killing sparked protests nationwide and constant protests in Minneapolis since.
City officials said on Saturday morning in a statement that the “shooting involving federal law enforcement” and occurred in the area of West 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue South – and that they are “working to confirm additional details”.
“We ask the public to remain calm and avoid the immediate area,” the statement added.
Governor Tim Walz called for an immediate end to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in the state.
Confirmed details are few at this time so stay with the Guardian live blog and we will bring you the developments as they happen.
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