Alex Pretti, who was killed by US border guards, had previously clashed with them.Image: keystone
Alex Pretti, who was killed in the USA, clashed with US officials eleven days before his death. A video shows him spitting in the direction of ICE units and kicking a car.
01/29/2026, 05:1401/29/2026, 05:52
The video about which, among other things CNN reported shows an altercation between Pretti and state agents. It was taken 11 days before the deadly incident in which two border guards shot Pretti as he lay on the ground, shooting him several times.
A lawyer for the Pretti family confirmed that the man seen in the video is Alex Pretti. In the footage, the nurse can be seen at an earlier protest against the harsh actions of ICE and the US Border Patrol, roaming through the neighborhoods of Minneapolis, officially to arrest illegal immigrants.
Pretti spits in the direction of the officers as they leave the scene. After they got into the car, the 37-year-old kicked the SUV twice. A rear light breaks. The officers then get out again, grab Pretti and bring him to the ground. After holding him briefly, they let him go. It appears there is a gun in Pretti’s waistband. It is unclear whether the officers saw them, but they did not disarm Pretti and went back to the car.
Alex Pretti kicked the officers’ vehicle.Image: nwt/screenshot
Pretti’s weapon was also the focus of his death. The US government initially claimed that Pretti had approached the officers with the gun in his hand and spoke of self-defense. Videos of the incident exposed this account as a lie: Pretti was disarmed while he was on the ground and killed shortly afterwards with several shots. There is no evidence that he wanted to pull the gun.
In the video that has now been published, dozens of people were present who filmed the scene and protested. State officials used tear gas and pepper spray, as did the portal The News Movementwhich first published the recordings, reports. According to the portal, the photo was taken just three kilometers from where Pretti was killed eleven days later.
The family’s lawyer said of the now published video that Pretti was “savagely attacked by a group a week before he was shot in the street, even though he posed no danger to anyone.” He emphasized:
“Nothing that happened a full week earlier could have justified Alex’s killing by ICE officers on January 24th.”
It was already known that this was not the first time Pretti had protested against the actions of US state officials. According to CNN, he suffered a broken rib during a previous protest. It’s unclear if this was the incident in the new video. (con)