Two officers placed on administrative leave as outrage continues over the shooting death of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti during an immigration raid.
Two US federal agents involved in the shooting death of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti during an immigration raid in Minneapolis have been placed on administrative leave, as the fallout from the most recent murder of a US citizen continues to cause outrage.
The two agents have been on leave since Saturday, in what U.S. officials said Wednesday was “standard protocol,” when Pretti was shot several times after being forced to the ground by masked immigration agents in an altercation that quickly turned deadly and was captured on video.
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“The two agents involved are on administrative leave and have been since Saturday,” said Al Jazeera's Manuel Rapalo, reading a statement from a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) spokesperson on Wednesday.
Rapalo, reporting from Minneapolis, said it was “unclear whether the Department of Homeland Security has taken any type of additional action against the other officers who were involved in that fatal shooting,” referring to officers “seen in multiple videos helping restrain Alex Pretti in the moments before that fatal shooting occurred.”
US media, citing a preliminary investigation sent to members of the US Congress, report that a US Border Patrol agent initially opened fire on Pretti while he was on the ground, followed by a CBP officer, who also fired.
Pretti's murder has been widely condemned across the political spectrum despite initial efforts by officials in President Donald Trump's administration to justify the murder and portray the victim as the culprit.
Pretti's shooting followed the Jan. 7 murder of Minneapolis resident Renee Good, a mother of three, who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
In an attempt to curb political and public backlash over violence by federal agents in Minnesota, President Trump has changed the leadership of immigration agents deployed in Minneapolis.
He replaced Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol official whose aggressive tactics in Minnesota have drawn widespread criticism, with his policy-focused border immigration chief, Tom Homan.
But Trump's signals have been mixed regarding the ongoing immigration raids in Minneapolis.
After claiming Tuesday that he wanted to “de-escalate” the growing crisis in the state, Trump warned Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday that he was “playing with fire” after Frey reiterated that his city would not help federal agents enforce immigration law.
Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: “Could someone in their inner sanctum explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the law and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!”
In response to the president, Frey wrote on social media: “Our police's job is to keep people safe, not enforce [federal] immigration laws.”
Amid Trump's mixed messages, tensions remain high on the streets of Minneapolis, where observers said immigration raids had not eased but appeared to be more targeted.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, a senior member of the Trump administration, was in Minneapolis on Wednesday, where she announced the arrest of 16 Minnesota “rioters” for allegedly assaulting federal authorities.
Trump has sent thousands of federal agents to the city of Minneapolis and the surrounding state of Minnesota as part of the president's aggressive deportation policy.
“Community members are afraid to come out as a result of ICE's occupation of our city,” said Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.
“Not only is the federal occupation hurting businesses, but the president's reprehensible rhetoric has led to right-wing grifters showing up here to terrorize our community. It's indefensible,” he said, warning that “constitutional rights are crumbling” while “fear is being used as a weapon.”
Pretti's parents have hired a former federal prosecutor who helped Minnesota's attorney general convict a police officer of murder for kneeling on the neck of African American George Floyd, and whose murder at the hands of white officer Derek Chauvin in 2020 ignited global Black Lives Matter protests.
Steve Schleicher represents Michael and Susan Pretti pro bono, according to a family spokesperson.
Renee Good's family hired the Chicago-based firm Romanucci & Blandin, which previously represented George Floyd's family.
