Protests in Minneapolis after man shot dead by immigration agents

Immigration agents in the US have killed a man in Minneapolis, sparking angry protests and widespread condemnation.

Hundreds of demonstrators braved freezing weather to protest against the shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, during a confrontation on Saturday.

Videos from the scene show the scuffle between federal immigration officers and Pretti. Federal and state authorities have offered conflicting versions of what happened in the moments leading to the shooting.

It is the second such killing in the city in less than three weeks. Trump ordered federal agents to the Democrat-held state in December, pledging a massive deportation of undocumented migrants.

The Trump administration says Pretti approached Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with a handgun and, after he violently resisted attempts to disarm him, a border patrol agent fired in self-defence.

But videos show no evidence to support the claim he used armed force to threaten agents. Instead, they show him pepper-sprayed, wrestled to the ground and shot – after an agent appeared to remove a gun from the scuffle.

The Trump administration has described Pretti as a “domestic terrorist”. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has described its account as “nonsense and lies”.

On Saturday night hundreds of people paid tribute to Pretti, lighting candles and chanting his name near the spot where he was shot.

During the day, hundreds of protesters showed their anger against the shooting and ongoing ICE raids in the city, as armed and masked agents deployed tear gas and stun grenades.

Protests have spread to other US cities, including New York where people held signs saying, “Justice for Alex” and “abolish ICE”, as well as to Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Videos from the moments before the shooting show Pretti filming with his phone in the middle of the street as a federal agent appeared to push away one woman and shove another woman to the ground.

The footage appears to show Pretti moving between the agent and a woman, raising his left arm to shield himself as the agent then sprays a substance in his eyes. The videos show several agents grabbing him and forcing him to the ground.

An officer then appears to approach the scuffle with empty hands, before pulling back with what could be a gun in his hand.

A split second later another agent standing beside him opens fire. His colleagues jump back from the man lying on the ground and the firing continues.

Pretti’s parents, Susan and Michael, released a statement saying they were “heartbroken but also very angry”. They described their son as a “kind-hearted soul” who wanted to “make a difference”.

“Please get the truth out about our son,” they added.

However, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Pretti “was there to perpetuate violence”, saying he approached federal agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

She said an agent feared for his life and other officers’ lives when he fired “defensive shots”. Pretti “committed an act of domestic terrorism”, Noem claimed.

Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino told a press conference on Saturday that it looked like Pretti wanted to “massacre” law enforcement.

President Donald Trump said local and state officials were “inciting Insurrection”, suggesting they had called off local police from protecting federal immigration officers at the shooting scene.

Governor Walz strongly disputed the federal government’s account of the incident. “I’ve seen the video from several angles and it’s sickening,” he told reporters.

“Thank God we have video because, according to DHS [Department of Homeland Security], these seven heroic guys took an onslaught of a battalion against them or something. It is nonsense, and it’s lies,” he said

Walz reiterated his call for trump to end ICE operations in Minnesota and urged protests to remain peaceful.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also called for ICE agents to leave the state. “How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” he said.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the man who was killed was a lawful gun owner with no criminal record other than traffic violations.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy called the events in Minneapolis “incredibly disturbing”. The “credibility” of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are at stake, he said in a post on social media.

“There must be a full joint federal and state investigation.”

The latest shooting follows weeks of tensions between the Minnesota authorities, federal agents and protesters who have taken to the streets to observe the agents during their anti-immigration raids.

Earlier this month, an ICE agent shot dead Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident who was taking part in such an observation.

Trump’s crackdown in Minneapolis was launched in December after some Somali immigrants were convicted in a massive fraud of state welfare programmes. The state is home to the largest community of Somali immigrants in the US.

ICE agents have the power to stop, detain and arrest people they suspect of being in the US illegally.