Fury in Minneapolis after ICE shooting of American. 'At least ten shots' in five seconds, family denounces 'outrageous lies' by Trump administration

The death of a 37-year-old American, the second person shot by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, sparked new protests on Saturday in a city rocked by weeks of demonstrations against immigration police (ICE) operations, reports AFP.

Alex Pretti, a nurse in an intensive care unit, died Saturday after an altercation with federal agents on a highway. His death worsens an already tense situation after that of Renee Good, an American woman fatally shot on January 7 in her car by an ICE agent in the same city.

The Trump administration immediately asserted that the man was on the verge of endangering the agencies, as he did after the death of Renee Good.

Despite these accusations and the call for calm by the local police, several hundred demonstrators gathered in a park in Minneapolis on Saturday evening to denounce this violence, despite the cold temperatures.

Protest rallies or tributes to Alex Pretti also took place in several cities from New York to Los Angeles, while politically, Democrats expressed their outrage, threatening to block federal funding, which risks another shutdown at the end of the month.

Minnesota's Democratic governor, Tim Walz, has called for local, rather than federal, authorities to take over the investigation. “We can't trust the federal state,” he said, before criticizing ICE, which he said “resembles chaos and violence.”

A video circulating on social media, the authenticity of which has been confirmed by authorities, shows several officers struggling to knock a person to the ground, then punching him several times. A gunshot is then heard, the officers move away from the man lying in the street, before shooting him several times.

What a woman who was present says

A woman who witnessed and filmed the new incident said she did not see Alex Pretti with a gun in his hands in the moments before he was shot by federal agents, according to a document published by the American Immigration Council, a migrant advocacy group, the BBC writes.

She says she became involved as a bystander after hearing whistles alerting people to the presence of ICE agents on a street near her home.

A man directing traffic, whom she later identified as Pretti, helped her find a parking spot. He then filmed an ICE agent with his phone while the agent threatened other bystanders with pepper spray.

An ICE agent, she said, then pushed a woman to the ground and sprayed her with pepper spray.

Pretti, according to her account, tried to help the woman to her feet, despite being sprayed himself, and was caught by other ICE agents.

He didn't appear to resist, she said: “I didn't see him with a gun. They put him on the ground. Four or five officers held him down and started shooting at him. They shot him so many times.”

“At least ten shots”

“He was there to commit acts of violence,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a news conference, while White House counsel Stephen Miller called Alex Pretti a “murderer” in a message sent on X by Vice President JD Vance.

According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the man was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and “resisted violently” before the agent, “fearing for his life”, fired at him. On X, DHS released a photo of the alleged weapon.

DHS did not specify whether the gun was in the man's hands or just on him, noted The New York Times, which notes that footage shows Pretti holding a phone, not a gun, before agents tackled him to the ground and shot him.

According to a review of the footage by the investigative publication Bellingcat, “moments before the first shot was fired,” one of the agents can be seen walking away with a handgun similar to the weapon advertised by DHS.

Then, “two different agents obviously fire their guns, and at least ten shots are fired in total,” Bellingcat continues, stating that “the majority” were fired while “the man was already lying on the ground motionless.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said at a news conference that the man lived in the city, had a valid gun permit and was not known to police.

He described a “highly unpredictable situation” after the shootings when protesters arrived, explaining that local authorities were unable to secure the site for the investigation.

The man's family denounces “outrageous lies”

“The mayor and the governor are inciting insurrection with their pompous, dangerous and arrogant rhetoric,” accused Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform, for which the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must be left “to do its job.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called on the president to end ICE operations in his city and “restore peace.”

The family of Alex Pretti expressed their anger and sadness after the fatal shooting of the man, who they said was a good soul “who cared deeply about his relatives and friends, as well as the American veterans he cared for as a nurse in the intensive care unit” of the hospital dedicated to American veterans in the city, according to Sky News.

“The outrageous lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when he is attacked by Trump's murderous, cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed to the ground while being pepper sprayed. Please tell the truth about our son. He was a human being good. thank you.”

British television reports that “ten shots” were fired in five seconds while the man was on the ground.

Huge tensions in Minneapolis still after the death of Renee Good

The city has been under tension since the death of Renee Good, who became a symbol of the excesses that ICE is regularly accused of following the return to power of Trump, who touts the firmness of his anti-immigrant operations.

Maria, a 56-year-old resident interviewed by AFP on the street and who did not want to give her last name, said she had come “to support the people protesting peacefully” and to bring them hand warmers as the temperature dropped below -20C.

But the situation is “getting worse” as ICE agents “attack and terrorize” residents, she said.

Thousands of people had already marched in downtown Minneapolis on Friday to protest ICE's anti-immigrant operations as US authorities tried to calm outrage over the detention of a 5-year-old boy.