AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
In less than three weeks, Minnesota has lost a second resident to the lethal force of immigration agents. A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen yesterday morning in Minneapolis during protests against ongoing ICE operations there. Peter Cox is with Minnesota Public Radio. He joins us now. Welcome to the program.
PETER COX, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: So what more can you tell us about yesterday's shooting?
COX: So video from the scene moments before the shooting shows what appear to be federal agents shoving a person who is filming to the ground. A man who's been identified as Alex Jeffrey Pretti tries to help that person up, and federal agents pepper-spray him. There's a struggle involving at least a half dozen officers. They bring Pretti to the ground, and then you hear multiple gunshots. Officers back away, and Pretti is seen on the ground. DHS officials say Pretti was armed and said he came ready to, quote, "inflict maximum damage" and "to kill law enforcement." But video doesn't appear to show that he brandished a weapon or even reached for one. Video does appear to show at least one of the agents did grasp Pretti's weapon and take it away less than a second before another agent fired the first of several shots, killing him. Officials say Pretti had a legal permit to carry.
RASCOE: And who was Alex Pretti?
COX: So Pretti was an intensive care unit nurse who grew up in Wisconsin, went to the University of Minnesota and lived in Minneapolis. Neighbors described him as quiet, warm-hearted and quick to jump in to help. Dimitri Drekonja, a doctor who worked with Pretti at the local Veterans Affairs hospital, spoke with Minnesota Public Radio yesterday.
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DIMITRI DREKONJA: I want to speak because he is - was a good person who - his whole life was about helping people. And there is no reason for a guy like that to be dead, let alone to be killed by the agents of a government that employed him.
COX: Drekonja remembered Pretti as one of the kindest people he's worked with.
RASCOE: What's going on with the investigation of this shooting?
COX: So things there are kind of murky. There's yet another battle shaping up between state and federal authorities over who's in charge and who gets to see evidence. The same thing happened with the investigation into the shooting death of Renee Macklin Good by an ICE agent earlier this month. When Minnesota's law enforcement division showed up at the scene yesterday, they say they were blocked from it by federal officials and were again blocked from it when they came back with a signed judicial warrant.
Yesterday evening, state and local investigators filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to prevent the destruction of evidence in yesterday's fatal shooting. Minnesota officials say they haven't been allowed to access it. Late last night, a judge temporarily ordered federal officials to preserve evidence from the scene. As it stands, the Department of Homeland Security has said it's conducting its own probe. But Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said yesterday in a news conference that Minnesota's justice system must have the last word on this.
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TIM WALZ: As I told the White House in no uncertain terms this morning, the federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation.
COX: He and other Minnesota leaders have repeatedly urged people to remain calm.
RASCOE: This immigration crackdown has been going on for weeks now. What are you hearing from people in Minnesota?
COX: I think people are angry, tired and traumatized. Many people have talked about feeling like the Twin Cities are under siege. There were candlelight vigils across the Twin Cities last evening, and as I drove home last night, I saw dozens of street corners where candles were left burning in snowbanks on residential streets. Friday, we saw thousands of people take to the streets in Minneapolis in subzero temperatures to peacefully protest ICE's ongoing operation here.
This is a place that's been through so much in the last 10 years, dating back to the shooting of Philando Castile in 2016, the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the fatal shooting of a state lawmaker and her husband last summer. It's been a lot. But I think this has really galvanized people, which might be why we're seeing the public response here has been so strong.
RASCOE: That's Minnesota Public Radio's Peter Cox. Thank you so much.
COX: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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