Overview
- DHS said a Border Patrol officer shot Pretti after he approached with a 9mm handgun, but multiple bystander videos show him holding a phone with no visible weapon.
- Barack and Michelle Obama condemned the shooting as a "heartbreaking tragedy," urged restraint, and called on federal officials to work with Minnesota’s governor and Minneapolis’s mayor.
- Pretti, 37, was an ICU nurse and U.S. citizen who had joined protests sparked by the January 7 killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
- The death marks the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by federal agents in the city this month, intensifying protests that organizers say drew tens of thousands.
- Pretti’s family disputed claims he was armed and said they first learned of his killing from a reporter rather than federal authorities.