Minneapolis: A killing and a cover story

Democrats demanded federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after a US Border Patrol agent fatally shot a Minneapolis man, igniting furious street protests in sub-zero temperatures and compounding a city already traumatised by another killing weeks earlier.

Family identified the victim as 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti — a man who had marched against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. After the shooting, an enraged crowd descended on the scene as federal officers lashed out with batons and flash bangs.

Officials said the Minnesota National Guard was deployed at governor Tim Walz’s direction to both the shooting site and to a federal building already turned into a daily battleground between protesters and officers. Police chief Brian O’Hara admitted information on what triggered the shooting was sparse.

DHS (Department of Homeland Security) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed officers fired “defensive shots” after a handgun-carrying man “violently resisted” attempts to disarm him. But bystander videos circulating within minutes showed Pretti holding a phone — not a weapon. No footage yet shows a gun in his hand. O’Hara said police believe Pretti was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry”.

DHS secretary Kristi Noem accused Pretti of arriving to “impede a law enforcement operation”, demanded to know why he was armed, yet offered no evidence that he ever drew or brandished a weapon. Federal officials said the shooter was an eight-year Border Patrol veteran.

The president plunged in on social media, berating Walz and Minneapolis’s mayor, and sharing images of the firearm immigration officials claimed to have recovered.

“What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren't they allowed to protect ICE Officers?” he railed, before declaring the Democratic governor and mayor “are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric”.

Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanded federal immigration authorities withdraw from Minnesota and called on Democrats to withhold funding from ICE. “We have a responsibility to protect Americans from tyranny,” she posted.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer then said Democrats would not back any spending Bill containing DHS funds — raising the stakes for a partial government shutdown on 30 January.

Pretti was killed barely a mile from where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE officer on 7 January, triggering massive protests.

Pretti’s family issued a blistering statement Saturday: “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed… He was a good man.”

In bystander footage obtained by the Associated Press, protesters whistle and swear at federal officers on Nicollet Avenue. An officer shoves a woman to the ground. Pretti steps in, phone raised, arm around her for support. The officer shoves him too. They fall back.

Moments later the scene jumps: several officers have piled onto Pretti. A canister-wielding officer repeatedly strikes his torso and head as others wrench at his arms. Shouts, chaos, bodies clustered. Then a shot — unclear who fired. Officers recoil. More shots. Pretti collapses motionless on the street.

The police chief pleaded for restraint from both sides: “Our demand today is for those federal agencies that are operating in our city to do so with the same discipline, humanity and integrity that effective law enforcement in this country demands.”

US Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino defended his officer as “extensively trained” and framed the killing as yet another attack on law enforcement: “Across the country, the men and women of DHS have been attacked, shot at.”

Walz said he had “no confidence” in federal officials and that the state would lead the investigation. Yet Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension superintendent Drew Evans revealed federal officers barred state investigators from the scene even after they obtained a judicial warrant.

Demonstrations erupted in New York, Washington and Los Angeles. In Minneapolis, hundreds braved -6°C temperatures, screaming at officers, calling them “cowards”, and demanding they “go home”. One officer mocked them with a dismissive “boo hoo” as he walked away.

Protesters blocked streets with dumpsters, chanting 'ICE out now' and 'Observing ICE is not a crime'. As night fell, mourners gathered quietly around a growing memorial. Handmade signs read 'Justice for Alex Pretti'. Local shops stayed open to offer warmth, water, coffee and snacks. Protesters chanted both Pretti’s and Good’s names.

“It feels like every day something crazier happens,” said Caleb Spike, who drove in from the suburbs. “What’s happening in our community is wrong, it’s sickening, it’s disgusting.”

With AP/PTI inputs