Minnesota political leaders are vowing to hold federal officials accountable following the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a U.S. Border Patrol agent, an incident that has sparked renewed protests in a state already facing heightened tensions over recent law-enforcement shootings.
Gov. Tim Walz and other Minnesotans have vowed that the state “will have the last word” on the fatal shooting that they see as the result of the Trump administration’s controversial deployment of agents who are there to do immigration enforcement operations, all of which have been resisted by the governor and other Democrats.
“I have a strong statement here for our federal government,” Walz. “Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word on this. It must have the last word.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced late on Saturday that he filed a lawsuit against federal officials “to prevent the destruction of evidence” related to Pretti’s shooting.
A federal judge in Minnesota has issued a ruling to prevent the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to a fatal shooting involving a Border Patrol agent that occurred on Saturday in Minneapolis.
The decision followed a lawsuit also filed on the same day by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, aimed at protecting the integrity of the evidence in the case, Fox News reported.
Minnesota National Guard members were deployed on Saturday at the governor’s request to secure the site of the shooting and the Whipple Federal Building, which is a known staging area for immigration authorities and has become a hotspot for protesters, according to the statement.
“The Minnesota National Guard’s mission remains the same: preserving life, protecting property, and ensuring Minnesotans can safely exercise their First Amendment rights,” Army Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya, a state national guard public affairs officer, said in a statement.
Pretti, a U.S. citizen and intensive care unit nurse for the VA, was killed during an encounter with federal immigration officers in Minneapolis. Federal authorities said Pretti was armed with a handgun and claimed he intended to use it against law enforcement. Officials said a struggle occurred before an agent fired.
The incident follows the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, 37, who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month. That shooting also prompted protests and calls for greater scrutiny of federal law-enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Attorney General Pam Bondi addressed the situation in national media appearances following the shooting, defending the role of federal agents and warning protesters against targeting law-enforcement personnel or interfering with federal operations.
Bondi said federal authorities will pursue accountability where appropriate and underscored that attacks on officers or obstruction of law enforcement are federal crimes.
She also noted that she sent a letter to Walz urging him to cooperate with federal immigration authorities to avoid any further mishaps and deaths as “Operation Metro Surge” continues.
Michael, Pretti’s father, told The Associated Press that his son, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, began participating in protests following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent on January 7. He noted that Pretti was “very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and across the United States with ICE.”
“He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street,” Michael Pretti said. “He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”
His parents said they recently told him to be careful when protesting, asking him not to “engage” or “do anything stupid.”
“He said he knows that. He knew that,” Michael Pretti told the outlet.
