In Alex Pretti’s killing, a sharp contrast between what Trump officials say and what video shows

Since federal agents shot and killed a Minnesota ICU nurse in south Minneapolis on Saturday, top administration officials have made claims about the encounter that are contradicted by bystander video and witness testimony.

Those officials — including a Cabinet secretary, a top White House official and top law enforcement officials — have alleged, without providing evidence, that 37-year-old Alex Pretti wanted to murder agents. They claimed that he attacked agents, despite video evidence to the contrary. They questioned his legal right to carry a concealed weapon. And they asserted that Pretti received immediate care for his wounds, though a witness said otherwise.

Consider the claims, and how they compare to video footage and witness testimony:

The claim: DHS says Pretti approached law enforcement with a handgun

Just two hours after Pretti was shot and killed, a statement issued by the Department of Homeland Security claimed that he had “approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.” The statement said agents tried to disarm him, but he “violently resisted.”

What the video shows: Bystander video reviewed by CBS News shows Pretti holding a cellphone, not a gun, in his hand. 

Several officers can be seen shoving Pretti to the ground, then an officer in gray removes a gun from Pretti’s waist and runs from the skirmish while holding the gun. The first shot is fired about a second later.

What witnesses said: In sworn statements, two witnesses said they didn’t see Pretti brandish a weapon. One described seeing Pretti observing and filming the scene “just with his camera out. I didn’t see him reach for or hold a gun.” Another said she saw a civilian “yelling at the ICE agents, but I did not see him attack the agents or brandish a weapon of any kind.”

The claim: Kristi Noem, Kash Patel, Greg Bovino claim Pretti attacked officers 

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem repeatedly claimed on Saturday that Pretti “impeded their law enforcement operations” and “attacked those officers.” Noem also asserted that Pretti arrived on scene “wishing to inflict harm on these officers.” Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino said Saturday that “this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” and on CNN Sunday, he insisted that Pretti had been “actively impeding and assaulting law enforcement.” FBI Director Kash Patel echoed these sentiments Sunday on Fox Business, saying: “You do not get to attack law enforcement officials in this country without any repercussions.” 

What video shows: Videos of the scene leading up to the shooting show that Pretti was directing traffic and not interacting with federal officers until a woman nearby was knocked down by an officer. 

When Pretti tried to help her up, an officer sprayed him in the face with a chemical irritant, and other officers surrounded him and dragged him to the ground. Videos show that Pretti was holding his cell phone, not a gun, when he was approached by agents.

What witnesses said: The two witnesses who submitted sworn statements described seeing Pretti shoved to the ground. One said: “It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up.” The other said she didn’t see Pretti attack agents, and saw “absolutely no need for any violence, let alone lethal force by multiple officers.”

The claim: DHS says medics immediately rendered aid

The DHS statement also claimed that “Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject,” a claim that was disputed by a pediatrician who rushed to the scene after she heard the gunshots. 

What a witness said: “None of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR,” the pediatrician bystander said in a court declaration. Instead, she said, the “victim was lying on his side and was surrounded by several ICE agents” who “appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.”

The claim: Stephen Miller calls Pretti a “would-be assassin”

Pretti had no criminal record but just three hours after he was killed, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller condemned him in a social media post as “a would-be assassin” who had “tried to murder federal law enforcement.”

What the video shows: Cell phone videos showed that Pretti did not have a gun in his hands before he was pushed to the ground by federal agents. Several videos from before the shooting show that Pretti was holding a phone in his right hand and nothing in his left.

The claim: Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem call Pretti a “domestic terrorist”

Miller called Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” the same term he used to describe 37-year-old Renee Good after she was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis less than three weeks ago. Noem also accused Pretti of “domestic terrorism,” accusing him of desiring to “perpetuate violence” for “ideological reasons.”

Any supporting evidence? Federal officials have not released any evidence to indicate that Pretti had plans to commit violence for ideological reasons. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Noem was asked for proof of her assertion that Pretti had violent motives. She declined to provide that proof, saying instead that as “part of this investigation, we’ll be hearing from those agents and officers and people on the ground.”

The claim: Kash Patel says, “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want” 

FBI Director Kash Patel suggested that Pretti had violated the law by bringing a weapon to the scene of a Border Patrol raid. “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” he said on Fox News. “It’s that simple. You don’t have that right to break the law and incite violence.” Bovino said on CNN that Second Amendment rights “don’t count when you riot and assault…law enforcement officers.” And Noem said: “I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” President Trump, too, weighed in, telling The Wall Street Journal: “I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it. But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn’t play good either.”

What the law says: Minnesota law permits carrying a handgun in public, provided you have a permit. Pretti has been described by local officials as a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.

Reaction from gun rights advocates: Those assertions from administration officials drew rebukes from gun rights advocates who typically find common cause with the GOP. “The Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting—a right the federal government must not infringe upon,” the Gun Owners of America posted on X. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican who respresents Kentucky’s 4th congressional district, wrote on X, “Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it’s a Constitutionally protected God-given right, and if you don’t understand this you have no business in law enforcement or government.”