Video Analyses at Odds with DHS Statements on Minneapolis Shooting - FactCheck.org
By: Lori Robertson (FactCheck. org)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Department of Homeland Security hasn't provided evidence for some statements administration officials made within hours of the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, and some of those statements appear to be contradicted by bystander video shared publicly so far.
Noem speaks during the Jan. 24 DHS press conference. Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images.
Multiple analyses of videos of the killing raise questions about the administration's account that Pretti "approached" officers with a handgun, "violently resisted" an attempt to "disarm" him, and "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement."
We'd caution that it's early in the investigation and that more information should be revealed, particularly about what happened before what's shown in available bystander videos. DHS told NBC News that there is body-camera video available from multiple federal agents, but those videos have not been publicly released.
Pretti, a 37-year-old man who worked as an intensive care unit nurse, had a handgun when he was wrestled to the ground by immigration officers. But it's unclear when exactly officers were aware of the weapon and whether Pretti had shown the gun or threatened officers with it, as administration comments have suggested.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told CBS News that Pretti "did have a permit for the handgun to carry it." In Minnesota, a permit is required to carry a gun in public, and the gun doesn't need to be concealed.
Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol officers shortly after 9 a.m. Central time. Media reports soon said that according to DHS, Pretti had a gun. At 11:31 a.m. Central time, DHS posted a statement on X. "At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, seen here," DHS said, providing a picture of the handgun on what appears to be the seat of a car. "The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. More details on the armed struggle are forthcoming. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. … The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID—this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement."
In separate press conferences the same day, Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander in charge of the immigration operation in Minneapolis, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem made similar statements, using much of the DHS language, including the speculation that Pretti wanted to "kill" (Noem's wording) or "massacre" (Bovino's) law enforcement officers.
"This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement," Bovino said.
Noem said that Pretti had "attacked those officers, had a weapon on him, and multiple, dozens of rounds of ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers coming, brandishing like that, and impeding their work that they were doing."
Bovino didn't answer questions from reporters about when agents knew about Pretti's firearm and whether he ever brandished it at agents. "This is under investigation. Those facts will come to light," he said.
On Truth Social, President Donald Trump posted the DHS picture of the firearm and raised questions about intent, calling Pretti a "gunman." Trump said: "This is the gunman's gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go - What is that all about?"
On X, Stephen Miller, the White House's homeland security adviser and a deputy chief of staff, went further than the DHS or Trump statements, writing that an "assassin tried to murder federal agents."
Multiple analyses of the videos of the incident available so far do not show Pretti holding the gun or threatening law enforcement officials with it. Again, more information, particularly about Pretti's earlier interactions with law enforcement, may later be revealed.
O'Hara told CBS News on Jan. 25, "I cannot speculate, but I do not have any - any evidence that I have seen that suggests that the weapon was brandished."
John Cohen, a former acting DHS undersecretary for intelligence, a police trainer and an ABC News contributor, told the network, "What the videos depict is that this guy did not walk up to anybody from CBP in a threatening manner." Cohen said that "there's nothing in the video evidence that we've seen thus far" to support DHS' statement that he intended to shoot law enforcement officers."
In the videos, Pretti is seen holding his phone, appearing to record video of the federal officers in the street, moments before an altercation where agents push another apparent demonstrator to the ground and then use pepper spray on Pretti. Several agents then force Pretti to the ground as he appears to resist. An agent removes a gun from Pretti's waistband, and Pretti is shot multiple times.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reviewed more than six videos as well as accounts from eyewitnesses. "The footage does not show him [Pretti] pointing a firearm, attempting to fire a weapon, or advancing toward agents with a gun raised. He is instead captured holding a cellphone, appearing to record," the newspaper wrote.
"Federal officials have released no evidence supporting claims about Pretti's intent," the Star Tribune also said. "Under Minnesota law, carrying a handgun in public is legal with a permit, and law enforcement sources said Pretti was a lawful gun owner."
The New York Times wrote in its analysis of videos, "About eight seconds after he is pinned, agents yell that he has a gun, indicating that they may not have known he was armed until he was on the ground." One agent "pulls a gun from among the group that appears to match the profile of a firearm DHS said belonged to Mr. Pretti. The agents appear to have him under their control, with his arms pinned near his head. As the gun emerges from the melee, another agent aims his own firearm at Mr. Pretti's back and appears to fire one shot at close range."
In its breakdown of available videos, the Washington Post wrote that "[l]ess than a second" after an agent "emerged from the scrum" with Pretti's firearm, "the first of what appear to be 10 shots was fired. It is not clear from the video whether the other agents realized Pretti — who local authorities believe had a permit to carry the weapon — had been disarmed."
Hearst Television's National Investigative Unit also reviewed multiple video angles of the shooting. One angle shows an officer crouching at Pretti's side, Hearst said, and "searching Pretti's clothing and is heard saying, 'Where's the gun?' Another officer, a distance away, responds, 'I've got the gun.'"
"At no time in any of the three videos reviewed is Pretti seen brandishing a gun," Hearst said.
CNN said that "taken together," cell phone footage from multiple angles, appears "at odds with the Department of Homeland Security's initial claims about the lead up to officers firing on Alex Pretti."
One of the videos it analyzed "seems to show officers approaching Pretti instead of the other way around. We'll see later that Pretti does appear to have had a gun in his waistband, but this video shows he didn't have a gun in his hand, only a phone," CNN said.
On Jan. 25, a day after the shooting, CNN's Dana Bash repeatedly pressed Bovino about the evidence behind DHS' statements. She asked whether Pretti was "brandishing" the gun, as Noem had said. "Was he brandishing it? Was he a threat because he had a gun in his hand that put law enforcement in danger?" Bash asked.
Bovino responded: "Dana, we heard the law enforcement officer say, 'Gun, gun, gun.' So, at some point, they knew there was a gun. So, again, that is going to be part of that investigation as to what was happening on the ground there between those victims, the Border Patrol agent victims, and the suspect." He later said that Pretti "brought a semiautomatic weapon to a riot, assaulted federal officers, and at some point they saw that weapon. So I do believe the secretary is 100% spot on in what she said."
We asked DHS about the agency's early statements on the shooting, including what Noem meant when she said Pretti was "brandishing" a weapon. We haven't received a response.
CNN said when it asked DHS about an agent removing Pretti's gun before the shooting, it repeated the statement that "officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted."
When asked on Jan. 25 by a Wall Street Journal reporter whether the shooting by federal agents was justified, Trump didn't defend the shooting as DHS had. "We're looking, we're reviewing everything and will come out with a determination," he said.
"I don't like any shooting. I don't like it," Trump said, according to the Journal. "But I don't like it when somebody goes into a protest and he's got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn't play good either."
D'Angelo Gore contributed to this story.
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Of course. Your government will lie through its teeth about this. It's about time the American people woke up to reality that what their government is saying and doing to THEM is evil incarnate. And if any Americans wanted to use their brains instead of their assholes they would use next November as a start to making America RESPECTABLE again. MARA. Vote those nefarious money-grabbing Republican lawmakers who suck Trump's XXXX OUT THE DOOR.
With Trump now threatening Canada with destructive repercussions if it makes its own trade decisions without his stamp of approval, he can go XXXX himself. And that would also be the opinion of any DECENT American.
It is certainly my position.
It's about time the American people woke up to reality that what their government is saying and doing to THEM is evil incarnate.
Yeah, I hear rumors Trump is going to cancel elections and make the country a one party state, outlaw all criticism of him and restrict access to news and entertainment sources, make citizens walk around with residency papers throw tens of thousands of minorities into concentration camps, arrest potential rivals and either throw them in jail or simply disappear them.
Who would ever defend an evil country that does that?
Was the killing of Alex Pretti justified?
Certainly seems like it was a mistake.
Not the first and won't be the last until conservatives wake up and realize what kind of arsonist they let loose on our nation.
Yes, law enforcement will continue to accidently kill people no matter who is President. So will Doctors. People making life and death decisions in high stress situations will sometimes err because that is what humans do.
I would never live in a country like that. Why would I? I'm safer where I am, absolutely safe from being shot, where there is no such thing as people living under bridges, where the leader does not tell other nations to do what he says or else suffer repurcussions, where I can afford a very comfortable life style on a meagre pension, where I am welcome to live even though I am not a citizen and not even the colour of the vast majority, where in my almost 20 years here I have never been asked to show my papers and government officials and even the police have been friendly and nice to me. In full retirement, I live a very peaceful life.
But there is something I miss. I don't have anyone here to play Scrabble with, so I have to keep my mind active by playing computer solitaire.
Accidentally? They accidentally shot a disarmed fellow citizen who was capturing video with his cellphone and helping up a woman that they had shoved?
How does one accidentally discharge 10 rounds into a human being?
While its not exactly the same thing-- I would imagine that at this point there must be online groups who play Scrabble (in English) on line?
Probably on Zoom?
I'd rather not be tied into that situation. I do want to play, but I'm not so desperate for it.
When you're making excuses for murderers. The automatic reflex of the reactionary mind is to support state-sponsored terrorism when the state is under right wing control.
maga is demonstrating how they expect to be treated when trump exits power ...
Now is the time when we will see if Noem's obsequiousness to Trump did any good...
The instant Trump sees her as more liability than utility she will be discarded like used TP.
... fitting, based upon what makes up his cabinet.
There are a lot of people - who have sworn to uphold the law - who lie about serious things, all too easily. In court, under oath, these people are generally assumed to be more trustworthy than other witnesses. Clearly, that automatic bias for trust is misplaced.
TiG: This is a temporary account. Please help me access my old account. Thanx, AJ
Steve Hostetter said it right: "My wife bought us a garden gnome. I want to name it Kristi Gnome because it's hollow, artificial, and my dog is terrified of it."
I find watching Kristi's news conferences with the sound off the best way to benefit from her presence. I like her cute little hats. And the time consumed shellacking foundation around her plumped lips should be acknowledged. That's why she obviously did not review footage of the murders of Good and Pretti. The oversized eyelashes interferes with clear vision anyway. That puppy killer is just misunderstood. Poor dear.
Nice to be able to read your wit again, CB.
... no doubt. must've been something I said ...
I've missed you, ya big galute. I miss Trout too. She was my first girl crush at NV. Humor and intellect are my weaknesses.
Thanks TiG! And it's great to read your concise fact-based and rational commentary compared to those with less common-sensical (read ridiculous) rhetorical insipid pablum that attempts to pass as retorts.
I'm so happy to see you and al back here, you have no idea how you've both been missed. I think trout was on vacation this last week. sometimes she likes to abandon me to fend for myself from the rapidly diminishing maga membership of felon/traitor/child molester support groups here.
Providing a false alibi is a crime. Noem is an accessory to murder after the fact.
... along with a fuckton of NT members...
How many shitloads make a fuckton? Is that metric?
1 maga = 1 shitload. 10 maga shitloads = 1 fuckton
The reasoning of magats when their felonious feckless leader spews his nightly shitload. Especially poor clueless Leavitt.
Do you think the fuckton of ignorants know they're rolling downhill directly into the dumpster fire known as the Trump Administration? Should we tell them?
Nah. Let's not.
meh, let them enjoy some jet fuel enemas by candlelight, I really don't care. it's a bit like having an alcoholic in the family, which I do. if they're in denial about their problem, how can anyone possibly be of help to them. probably best to stand back and let them hit rock bottom. if they live thru it and realize then that they need help, I'll consider all pertinent factors before giving it to them. that may sound too harsh for some, but I've been conditioned by a few careers to make fairly accurate assessments of people within short time periods. as far as trump supporters are concerned, my red line was passed the first of the year.
now there are no logical or reasonable defenses for the damage trump is doing to our government, our culture, our constitution, our country, and our alliances. his supporters are unamerican and the very definition of domestic terrorists. sadly, I fear we as a country are racing towards a blind dead end that has very few options of escape. trump is preparing to interfere in the midterm elections in 9 months. if that happens, I plan on being very aggressive towards his supporters and holding them fully accountable for all of trump's constitutional breaches, for the rest of their worthless lives if/while they remain in this country ...