The Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights investigation the shooting of Alex Prettia Minneapolis resident killed Saturday by Border Patrol agents, Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday.
“We are looking at anything that might shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened,” Blanche said at a news conference.
Blanche did not explain why the DOJ decided to open an investigation into Pretti’s killing, but said a similar investigation was not warranted in the Jan. 7 death. by Renée Goodwho was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. He said only Friday that the Civil Rights Division does not investigate all law enforcement shootings and that there must be circumstances and facts that “warrant an investigation.”
“President Trump has repeatedly said, ‘Of course, that’s something we’re going to investigate,'” Blanche said of the Pretti shooting.
Steve Schleicher, a Minneapolis-based attorney representing Pretti’s parents, said Friday that “the family is focused on a fair and impartial investigation that examines the facts surrounding her murder.”
FBI to resume federal investigation
The Department of Homeland Security also said Friday that the FBI would lead the federal investigation into Pretti’s death.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem revealed for the first time the change in which the agency was leading the investigation during a Fox Press interview Thursday evening. His department previously said Homeland Security Investigations, a department unit, would lead the investigation.
“We will continue to monitor the investigation that the FBI is conducting and provide them with all the information they need to complete that investigation, and we will make sure that the American people know the truth of the situation and how we can move forward and continue to protect the American people,” Noem said, speaking to Fox host Sean Hannity.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Homeland Security Investigations will support the FBI in the investigation. Separately, Customs and Border Protection, part of DHS, is conducting its own internal investigation into the shooting, in which two agents opened fire on Pretti.
DHS did not immediately respond to questions about when the change was made or why. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear whether the FBI would share information and evidence with Minnesota state investigators, who have so far been briefed. frozen of the federal investigation.
In the same interview, Noem appeared to distance herself from statements she made shortly after the shooting, saying Pretti brandished a handgun and aggressively approached officers.
Several videos of the shooting contradicted this claim, showing that the intensive care nurse only had her cellphone in her hand. as the police pinned him to the groundone of them removing a handgun from the back of Pretti’s pants while another officer began firing shots into his back.
Pretti had a state license allowing him to legally carry a concealed firearm. At no point did he appear to reach her, the videos show.
Videos emerge from previous altercation
The agency change comes after the release of two other videos of an earlier altercation between Pretti and federal immigration agents 11 days before his death.
The Jan. 13 videos show Pretti yelling at federal vehicles and at one point appearing to spit before turning off a vehicle’s tail light. A struggle ensued between Pretti and several officers, during which he was forced to the ground. Pretti’s winter coat comes off and he either breaks free or the officers let him go and he runs away.
When his back is to the camera, what appears to be a handgun is visible in his waistband. At no point do the videos show Pretti reaching for the gun, and it is unclear whether federal agents saw it.
Schleicher, the Pretti family attorney, said Wednesday that the earlier altercation in no way justified the shooting more than a week later.
In a post on his Truth Social platform early Friday morning, President Donald Trump suggested that videos of the earlier incident undermined the narrative that Pretti was a peaceful protester when he was shot.
“Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock plummeted with the just-released video showing him yelling and spitting in the face of a very calm and in-control ICE officer, then wildly kicking a very expensive new government vehicle, so rough and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke into pieces,” Trump’s post said. “It was a true display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazy and out of control. The ICE officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing under these circumstances!”
