Woman Who Took Video Of CBP Shooting In Minneapolis Speaks Out

A woman who recorded the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis man killed during a federal immigration enforcement operation, has come forward with a firsthand account that she says conflicts with early official descriptions of the incident.

The eyewitness, who captured video of the encounter and requested anonymity, said Pretti did not appear aggressive in the moments leading up to the shooting. According to her account, he was filming and observing the scene rather than threatening federal agents. Video footage circulating online appears to show Pretti holding a phone as he approached officers, contradicting initial claims that he posed an imminent danger.

The woman said Pretti was standing near a group of people gathered around federal agents when officers initiated a physical confrontation. She stated that he appeared to be trying to assist a woman who had been pushed to the ground and was not attempting to draw a weapon when agents forced him onto the pavement. Other witnesses have echoed those claims, saying Pretti was unarmed and attempting to intervene as agents clashed with demonstrators.

Pretti, a registered gun owner with a valid permit, was legally carrying a handgun at the time. However, neither the eyewitness nor available video footage shows him holding or brandishing the firearm prior to the shooting.

“I decided to check it out on my way to work. I’ve been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors,” the woman said.

“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,” she continued.

“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,” she added.

“Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over,” she added. “The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him.

“The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them – he wasn’t even turned toward them,” she continued.

One angle of the video appears to show an agent securing Pretti’s handgun before shots were fired. “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,” the witness said.

“I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state.”

As public scrutiny of the incident intensifies, Democrats in Minnesota and beyond have continued to escalate rhetoric aimed at federal immigration enforcement, with critics accusing them of stoking outrage and hostility toward law enforcement.

Among the most incendiary remarks came from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who once again invoked Nazi-era comparisons when condemning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), agencies that officials say have faced coordinated resistance in Minneapolis—much of it from paid agitators, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Walz sharply criticized federal immigration operations following the deadly Border Patrol shooting, likening ICE and CBP actions to the Holocaust and the experience of Anne Frank.

Speaking at a press briefing Sunday, Walz claimed residents, including children, were now “hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside” due to federal enforcement activity. He urged changes to enforcement tactics while invoking the story of Frank, the German-Jewish teenager who hid from Nazi persecution during World War II.

“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank,” Walz said.

While investigations into the shooting continue, critics argue that inflammatory comparisons and politicized rhetoric risk further inflaming tensions, even as federal authorities maintain they are carrying out lawful enforcement under the direction of President Donald J. Trump.