Washington: A 37-year-old man believed to be an American citizen has been shot dead by federal agents in the US city of Minneapolis, less than three weeks after Renee Good was killed there by an immigration enforcement agent, which triggered a national outcry.
Video published by local media showed federal agents wrestling a man to the ground on a Minneapolis street before several gunshots were fired, and the man stopped moving. There was no context to the footage (Warning: explicit language and graphic vision)
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said the deceased person was a 37-year-old white man from Minneapolis who was believed to be a US citizen.
The Associated Press and Minnesota Star Tribune later identified him as Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, citing his parents and sources familiar with the incident.
In a statement, the federal Department of Homeland Security said the individual was carrying a 9mm semi-automatic handgun when he approached officers.
“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted. More details on the armed struggle are forthcoming,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject, but was pronounced dead at the scene.”
McLaughlin said the person approached Border Patrol officers as they were conducting a targeted operation against an illegal immigrant wanted for violent assault.
She said the man was carrying two magazines of ammunition and no identification. But she did not provide information about who the man was, including whether he was an associate of the target, a protester or an American citizen.
It was also unclear whether the man was brandishing the weapon at the officers. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said an investigation would probe the details, but it appeared that the man wished to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”.
O’Hara, the police chief, said the man was a licensed gun owner with a permit to carry, and had no criminal record other than traffic infringements.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the footage of the incident clearly showed more than six masked agents “pummelling one of our constituents, shooting him to death”.
He pleaded with President Donald Trump to end ICE’s special enforcement operation in Minneapolis, saying a great American city was being “invaded by its own federal government”.
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Frey said.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he spoke with White House chief-of-staff Susie Wiles following the shooting and demanded she withdraw ICE from the state. The state must also conduct the investigation, he told her.
“Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word on this. It must have the last word on this,” Walz said. “The federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation. The state will handle it, period.”
Walz said he had seen the “sickening” video from several angles. “It’s a campaign of organised brutality against our state,” he said. “This needs to be the event that says: enough.”
Protesters and federal agents continued to clash on the city’s frosty streets following the shooting. Live footage being broadcast on US television showed officers repeatedly firing tear gas at demonstrators, who were chanting “shame” and yelling “f— ICE”.
O’Hara said the protests had been deemed an unauthorised gathering and people should go home. Local police were dispatched to the scene.
Tensions have been high since ICE began a major enforcement operation in Minneapolis weeks ago, and were turbocharged by the killing of Good on January 7.
In that case, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said within hours of the shooting that Good was participating in “domestic terrorism” and that the ICE agent shot her in self-defence, despite footage casting doubt on that narrative.
Early responses to Saturday’s shooting indicated the same narrative was likely to play out. In remarks on X, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the dead man a “domestic terrorist” and “would-be assassin”, and accused the Democrats of “fanning the flames of insurrection for the singular purpose of stopping the deportation of illegals who invaded the country”.
In a lengthy social media post, Trump posted a photo of the gun that allegedly belonged to the deceased man, blaming Walz and Frey for inciting insurrection with “pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric”.
“These sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States of America,” Trump said. “LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB!”
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via Twitter or email.