Immigration Agents Kill Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Sparking Protests Across United States

Immigration agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, and the death has sparked protests and widespread condemnation across the United States.

“Protests and outrage in the U”

BBC

BBC reported that hundreds of protesters braved freezing weather to take to the streets, with armed and masked agents using tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them.

BBC

In Minneapolis, U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration is "reassessing everything" about Pretti's death, while also telling the Wall Street Journal, "We are investigating, reassessing everything, and we will make a decision."

The BBC said protests spread to other U.S. cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where many attendees carried signs calling for "Justice for Alex" and for the abolition of ICE.

In Syracuse, New York, Paigelynne Gonyea told Syracuse.com that two agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement visited her workplace on Tuesday and warned her to take down an Instagram post identifying the agent who fatally shot Renée Good earlier this year or risk being prosecuted.

Newsweek reported that Gonyea said, "For ICE to come to me over a social media post just feels very 1984 to me," and that she was working at a polling site in Syracuse when agents came to speak with her.

Newsweek

NPR said Gonyea received a voicemail from a Homeland Security special agent calling from a New Jersey number, and that the caller told her, "we doxxed an ICE agent back in January."

NPR also quoted Gonyea saying, "I don't trust going outside or dealing with ICE agents at all in any capacity," and described how her fellow poll worker, 70-year-old Sheilia Milledge, told NPR, "There's too many people being kidnapped by ICE and I can't run behind her."

NPR reported that Gonyea said the agents asked her to sign a document from ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, warning "YOU MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW" and stating, "OPR is requesting that you promptly remove and/or discontinue the aforementioned behavior."

“She posted about ICE”

NPR

NPR said Gonyea denied to NPR she had ever doxxed an ICE agent, and she challenged DHS's claim by writing, "Where is the address?" and saying, "I literally have looked through my social media carefully and I do not see an address."

BBC said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged Pretti approached federal agents with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, while the Department of Homeland Security said the agents fired in self-defense after Pretti resisted attempts to disarm him.

BBC also reported that videos analyzed by BBC Verify showed Pretti filming the agents with his phone and that none of the available videos showed Pretti holding a weapon, intensifying the dispute over what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting.