A witness to Saturday’s deadly capturing of a 37-year-old man by a U.S. Customs and Border Safety officer in Minneapolis stated in a courtroom declaration that the person was killed after he tried to assist a girl who had been pushed to the bottom by federal brokers.
The witness, whose identify was redacted in courtroom paperwork filed by ACLU of Minnesota, stated Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers pepper-sprayed three observers, together with Alex Pretti, earlier than an agent shoved a girl to the bottom, and Pretti went to assist her.
“The ICE brokers simply stored spraying,” the witness stated, in keeping with the declaration. “Extra brokers came visiting and grabbed the person who was nonetheless attempting to assist the girl rise up.”
{A photograph} of 37-year-old Alex Pretti could be seen at a makeshift memorial within the space the place he was shot useless by federal immigration brokers earlier within the day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 24, 2026.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
The witness stated that brokers pushed Pretti to the bottom and added that “it didn’t seem like he was attempting to withstand, simply attempting to assist the girl up.”
“They threw him to the bottom. 4 or 5 brokers had him on the bottom and so they simply began capturing him,” the witness stated. “They shot him so many instances.”
The witness, in keeping with the declaration, recorded a video depicting the occasions main as much as the agent capturing Pretti and stored recording for a number of minutes afterwards, in keeping with the declaration.
The declaration was filed Saturday by the ACLU of Minnesota as a part of an emergency movement to carry a keep on a federal choose’s order that barred immigration brokers from arresting protesters or utilizing nonlethal weapons in opposition to them.
Folks collect round a makeshift memorial on the website the place a person was fatally shot by federal brokers attempting to detain him, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 24, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Earlier this month, U.S. District Decide Katherine Menendez dominated that federal brokers deployed to the state are prohibited from arresting or detaining peaceable protesters in retaliation for protected conduct.
Whereas a federal appeals courtroom stayed that order final week, the ACLU argued Saturday that the capturing has “created an pressing want for intervention to forestall irreparable harm to the named plaintiffs, protesters, and observers.”
“Appellees anticipate that 1000’s of protesters and observers will proceed to take to the streets to train their constitutional rights,” the ACLU stated within the submitting. “As federal brokers deployed to Operation Metro Surge work together with these people, it’s extra important than ever to reinstate the district courtroom’s slender, thought-about injunction to forestall violent retaliation.”
The Division of Homeland Safety claimed Pretti approached officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and when officers tried to disarm him, he “violently resisted.”
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem speaks by a display displaying a picture of a handgun that the Division of Homeland Safety says was recovered from a person who was shot throughout his arrest in Minneapolis, in Washington, January 24, 2026.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
“Fearing for his life and the lives and security of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive photographs,” DHS stated.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander at Giant Greg Bovino have claimed — with out offering additional proof — that Pretti arrived on the scene “to inflict most injury on people.” Noem advised reporters that his actions amounted to “home terrorism.”
At a information convention on Sunday, Bovino stated that all the officers concerned within the deadly capturing of Pretti are nonetheless working. He stated that for their very own security and due to doxxing, the brokers have been moved to different places, which he didn’t disclose.
“All brokers that have been concerned in that scene are working not in Minneapolis, however in different places,” Bovino stated.
However the witness who submitted the declaration as a part of the ACLU courtroom submitting disputed the account of federal officers, alleging, “It’s mistaken.”
“The person didn’t method the brokers with a gun. He approached them with a digicam. He was simply attempting to assist a girl rise up and so they took him to the bottom,” the witness stated, in keeping with the declaration.
The witness, in keeping with the declaration, added, “The brokers pulled the person on the bottom. I did not see him contact any of them — he wasn’t even turned towards them.”
ABC Information’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
