In the chaotic moments leading up to Alex Pretti’s death on Saturday, the aggressive actions of two federal agents transformed the encounter into a deadly shooting, a CNN analysis of video has found.
While other agents helped restrain Pretti on a Minneapolis street and seized a handgun from his waistband, video shows these agents significantly escalated the confrontation — first by pepper spraying and striking Pretti repeatedly in the face and on the head, and then by drawing their weapons and firing at him, even after he was on the ground, unarmed.
The conduct of those two agents, from the earliest moments interacting with demonstrators up through their decision to pull weapons and fire at Pretti, illustrate the dangers of flooding American cities with officers ill-equipped to deal with protesters in urban environments, experts told CNN.
While major city police departments have embraced a philosophy of cooling down heated encounters with the public, the immigration officers in Minneapolis did the opposite – right up to the moment of Pretti’s death.
“Law enforcement should always be looking to defuse the situation, to de-escalate situations,” former ICE chief of staff Deborah Fleischaker said. “Instead of doing that, they’re leaning into the ways that they can escalate.”
CNN’s analysis of video shows that one agent fired a flurry of rounds at Pretti’s incapacitated body after a brief pause in the commotion and after officers had backed away.
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