MINNEAPOLIS — Federal immigration agents shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis man Saturday, officials said.
He was identified by family as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive care nurse.
“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” his father, Michael Pretti, told The Associated Press. “He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others.”
The shooting, captured on a video posted to Facebook and verified by NBC News, was followed by a heated confrontation between agents and protesters who oppose the federal government’s immigration enforcement tactics.
Follow along for live updates.
In the video, agents are seen wrestling a man to the ground. A second cellphone video appears to show the moments leading up to the shooting. Several people are seen in the street filming immigration officers when an agent appears to shove someone to the ground. An agent appears to spray another man in the face before dragging him to the ground. Several officers surround the man when a series of shots are fired.
The Department of Homeland Security said on social media that the officers were conducting an operation when they were approached by an armed Minneapolis resident. The department said the man was shot after violently resisting efforts to disarm him, but no evidence was provided to back up this account.
Though the details of what led to the shooting remain unclear, the city’s police chief, Brian O’Hara, said at a news conference local officials believe the man was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.
Man’s family told him to be careful protesting
Minneapolis police received a report of a shooting just before 9 a.m. and found a man suffering from gunshot wounds, O’Hara said.
He said he believes more than one federal agent fired shots.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who has been vocal in his criticism of the federal immigration enforcement operation in his city, repeated calls to end the action.
“I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death,” he said. “How many more residents, how many more Americans, need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?”
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the shooting.
Pretti, born in Illinois, loved the outdoors and going on adventures with his dog, Joule. He had participated in protests in the city following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good, who was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, the AP reported.
His parents, who live in Wisconsin, said they had told him to be careful protesting.
“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” his father told The AP. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
Pretti’s family said that he owned a handgun and had a permit, but said they had never known him to carry the firearm.
Jeanne Wiener, one of Pretti’s neighbors, said she’s known him for about five years and described him as a “gentle, good person.”
“He would never, ever attack a police officer,” she told NBC News.
Wiener added that while she did not know much about his personal life, she believed Pretti lived alone and had a dog.
She said Pretti was “extremely kind and outgoing and nice. Didn’t look to me like he would have a mean bone in his body,” she added.
Protesters clash with officers following shooting
Within minutes of the shooting, dozens of protesters swarmed the area.
For the next several hours, federal agents sporadically deployed tear gas that enveloped the surrounding streets, threw booming pepper bombs and used pepper spray. In one instance, an agent set a dumpster on fire with a smoke bomb after a protester tried to use it to block the street.
Protesters hurled expletives and, at times, threw snowballs at authorities’ vehicles.
Wiping off tear gas and pepper spray, demonstrators sought shelter from the chemical agents and the bitter cold inside local businesses, including a bar and yoga studio.
Federal agents block off the scene of a shooting in Minneapolis.Stephen Maturen / Getty Images
Tear gas is deployed by law enforcement as demonstrators gather near the site of the shooting.Roberto Schmidt / AFP – Getty Images
At least one protester was seen on an NBC News video being taken to the ground and placed in handcuffs after agents started to move demonstrators back from the scene. The protester’s face appeared bloodied when agents picked him up.
Minneapolis residents said they were frustrated and angry about the continued violence.
“It just really infuriates me because they’re going to try to keep coming and they’re going to keep hurting people and we have to keep on standing up,” said Andrew Collier, a Minneapolis resident.
“We can’t let them get comfortable with what they’re doing,” Collier added. “And that means showing up whenever they do something terrible like this, or anytime they’re in our streets.”
Elisabeth Pletcher, 57, opened the doors to a nearby yoga studio where she works to let protesters take cover from tear gas and pepper bombs. Dozens of protesters and journalists gathered inside, some wiping tear gas out of their eyes, watching the chaotic scene unfold outside.
“It’s absolutely atrocious. It is absolutely counter to everything that should be happening in the world,” she said. “We can be using these resources to feed people and to educate people and to take care of each other, and instead they are sowing fear and violence.”
Brennan Gasser, 34, lives in an apartment above the site of the shooting, at the intersection of Nicolette Avenue and 26th Street in South Minneapolis. Gasser ran out of bed at about 9 a.m. ET when he heard whistles coming from outside.
A few moments later, he said he saw about a dozen federal agents surrounding a man lying face-down on the ground before paramedics flipped his body over to perform CPR.
He said that while he did not see the shooting, the fact that the man was armed should not justify a shooting.
“In my opinion, in this circumstance, we have the right to bear arms,” he said. “If you had a weapon and they shot him because he was holding a weapon, that’s extremely unjust. People who support the other side should see that if you own a gun it’s not cause to be shot dead in the streets.”
Protesters confront federal agents after a person was shot in Minneapolis.Stephen Maturen / Getty Images
Gov. Tim Walz said videos of Pretti’s shooting were “sickening” and demanded that the state lead the investigation into the incident.
“As I’ve told the White House in no uncertain terms this morning, the federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation. The state will handle it, period,” he said at a news conference.
People in the city have been protesting since Jan. 7, when Good was shot and killed in her car during an encounter with ICE agent Jonathan Ross. An autopsy commissioned by her family found that she suffered three gunshot wounds, including one to the head. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released its findings to Good’s family or their legal team, their attorneys said in a statement.
About a week after Good’s death, a Venezuelan man was injured in a shooting involving a federal officer in Minneapolis. DHS said the shooting happened after law enforcement was attacked with a shovel and broom during a targeted traffic stop.
As federal authorities left the site of the shooting on Saturday afternoon, protesters hurled snowballs at their vehicles, which were mostly unmarked. Some immigration authorities began shooting mace and pepper spray out of their windows.
Hundreds of protesters have since gathered at the site of the shooting and erected barricades made up of garbage cans and furniture.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Matt Lavietes
Matt Lavietes is a reporter for NBC News.
Minyvonne Burke
Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.
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