Protests and rioting have broken out in Minneapolis after Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old white male and Minneapolis resident, after he attempted to intervene in an immigration-related arrest while armed.
“We need people to remain peaceful. In the area, we have an unlawful assembly at this time. Minneapolis police have given multiple warnings for the crowd to disperse,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
Near the scene of the shooting, footage of the confrontation between Minneapolis residents and federal law enforcement showed a chaotic scene. Agents with gas masks appear to have deployed tear gas and other crowd control devices as locals scream at them. Several people were arrested in footage reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
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Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X that a Homeland Security Investigations officer had his finger bitten off by rioters.
In other footage, city residents wheel forward trash cans and other objects toward a police line. The protesters deployed the objects in a line across the street, apparently preparing a defensive wall that would impede any attempt by police to sweep them out.
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Responses to the shooting by government officials have been varied. Local and state officials have demanded the removal of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies from the state.
“Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,” Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) posted on X. “The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
“I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents, shooting him to death,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a press conference. “I’m done being told that our local elected officials are solely responsible for turning down the temperature.”
White House officials have pushed back, saying that local Democrats are encouraging the chaos to distract from Minnesota’s fraud scandal.
“This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino said in a press conference on Saturday.
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“AMONG OTHER THINGS, THIS IS A “COVER UP” FOR THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT HAVE BEEN STOLEN FROM THE ONCE GREAT STATE (BUT SOON TO BE GREAT AGAIN!) OF MINNESOTA!” President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social.
This is the third shooting by a federal agent in Minneapolis in as many weeks, and the second fatal one after the death of Renee Good in early January.
