Vid;e;os appear to show federal officer took g;;u;n away from Alex Pretti just before fatal sho;;o;;ting, CNN analysis finds

A CNN video analysis appears to show a federal immigration officer removing a gun from Alex Pretti just prior to officers fatally shooting him.

Bystander video shows one agent reaching into the scrum of other officers seeking to restrain Pretti and retrieving a weapon that appears to match the firearm the Department of Homeland Security says Pretti possessed.

Officers can be heard shouting “he’s got a gun” when the unidentified agent reaches into Pretti’s waistband as the pile of officers try to subdue him. Just over one second after the officer emerges holding the weapon, a shot rings out, followed by at least 9 more, according to videos.

The videos show that the officer who retrieved the weapon had nothing in his hand prior to approaching Pretti. It is unclear from the videos reviewed by CNN whether the officer who took the weapon from Pretti immediately told the others that he was taking it away.

A federal officer wearing a gray jacket is seen retrieving a gun from Alex Pretti’s waistband and walking away from the scrum. Obtained by CNN

But about a minute after the shooting, as Pretti’s body laid motionless on the street, another officer can be heard in one video asking, “where’s the gun?” The officer who retrieved the weapon walks over and responds, “I got the gun.”

It is unclear which agent first fired at Pretti.

In a statement, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed that an officer fired on Pretti while fearing for his life.

“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted,” McLaughlin said. “Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots.” She added that medics delivered aid to Pretti but he was pronounced dead on the scene.

The federal officer wearing a gray jacket retrieves the weapon and quickly departs. AP

At no point in any of the videos reviewed by CNN can Pretti be seen wielding a weapon; he is seen carrying a cellphone in one hand earlier in the encounter.

Moments showing agent retrieving gun prior to fatal shooting of Alex …

4 photos

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a press conference that Pretti was believed to be a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.

“From what I see right now, this does not look like a justified shooting,” said Charles Ramsey, the former Philadelphia and Washington, DC, police commissioner, who reviewed the videos as a CNN law enforcement analyst. “The guy is prone on the sidewalk… and they’re still firing rounds into him.”

Prior to the shooting, videos reviewed by CNN show that tensions escalated quickly in a south Minneapolis neighborhood where a group of federal agents were conducting an operation. About two minutes before shots were fired, several agents are seen detaining a person on a street as bystanders blow whistles, honk car horns and record video, according to one video filmed from a nearby car.

Pretti – a 37-year-old who worked as an ICU nurse at a Minneapolis VA hospital, according to his family – is first seen standing in the street, holding his cell phone in one hand and recording officers while directing traffic with his other hand. As a federal agent interacts with other bystanders, Pretti yells at the officer, “do not push them into the traffic!”

The officer then walks toward Pretti and several other bystanders, and pushes a woman to the ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the woman. The agent sprays Pretti with a chemical irritant and drags him to his knees as Pretti pulls at the backpack of the other bystander, potentially reaching for a water bottle.

At least six other agents quickly gather, with officers standing over Pretti and pushing him to the ground as he appears to resist them, leading to a scrum on the street.

One agent appears to repeatedly strike Pretti while he is on the ground. Another agent, wearing a grey jacket, can be seen from some camera angles reaching into the scrum of other officers and retrieving a weapon that seems to match the firearm the DHS says Pretti possessed. That agent then walks quickly away from the scuffle.

President Donald Trump and other federal officials posted a photo of a gun they said belonged to Pretti on social media, and McLaughlin pointed to the fact that the gun had two magazines to argue without evidence that “this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

The Department of Homeland Security released this photo of a handgun it says was recovered at the scene of Saturday’s shooting on Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis.
Department of Homeland Security

Ramsey disputed that characterization.

He said that it appeared that the large number of agents who were “swarming” Pretti may have led to “too many officers getting in one another’s way” or added to confusion about the status of Pretti’s weapon.

And he argued that there needed to be a third-party, independent investigation of the shooting, especially after statements from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration leaders defending the officers shortly after the incident. Once you have leaders “come out and pretty much clear the officer as a justified shooting, you cannot expect to have an objective investigation based on facts,” Ramsey said, calling DHS leadership “out of control.”