Newly obtained bystander video of Border Patrol officers killing Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti further undercuts Trump administration claims that he was an armed “would-be assassin” intent on using his gun to kill federal agents.
So far, federal officials have not presented any public evidence that Pretti, who was licensed to carry, was posing an immediate, armed threat to officers.
A roughly seven-minute-long video of the Saturday encounter, obtained by The Associated Press, raises further questions about the basis of such administration claims.
In the clip, legal observers can be heard blowing whistles and watching Border Patrol agents who are in the middle of operations near a donut shop in Minneapolis.
About halfway through the clip, Pretti can be seen heatedly engaging with an officer and holding up a cell phone, not a gun.
He appears to say, “Do not touch me,” as an agent pushes into his chest.
Later, the footage returns to Pretti as a large group of agents pile on top of him and pound him with blows.
“That is police brutality,” the legal observer filming the exchange says. “They are hitting an observer. They are kicking them in the face.”
Gunshots then ring out and the group scatters.
Other angles of the encounter paint a similar picture of Pretti as an individual protesting agents, but not threatening them with lethal force.
Shortly before he was killed, Pretti stepped to stand between an agent and a woman the officer had just pushed into a snowbank, using his body to shield her as the officer sprayed a chemical agent.
The videos are starkly different from how officials described the shooting in its immediate aftermath.
Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller called Pretti a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder law enforcement,” while a top Border Patrol official said it looked like Pretti wanted to cause “maximum damage,” and the Border Patrol union claimed Pretti, a nurse at a local VA hospital, brandished his weapon.
Pretti’s family has denounced the administration, claiming they have told “sickening lies” about the deceased 37-year-old.
Federal officials are investigating the shooting, but Minnesota officials are pushing for a local probe too, and they accuse federal agents of blocking them from accessing the scene of the shooting in the immediate aftermath, potentially allowing evidence to be compromised.
On Sunday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order barring federal officials from destroying or altering any evidence.
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