The woman who filmed the clearest footage of a protester being shot dead by immigration agents has filed a harrowing account of what she saw.
Intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, was shot up to 10 times on Saturday as he lay on the ground while Customs and Border Protection agents tried to detain him.
Video showed him filming agents with his phone as they arrested a female protester, before he was suddenly tackled to the ground about 9am, and one agent started shooting.
Close-up high-definition footage uploaded by a woman just a few feet away provided damning evidence of the questionable nature of the shooting.
She became known as ‘pink coat lady’ after her bright outfit that was visible from across the street in other videos of the shooting.
Other protesters became concerned about her, as a key witness, and some witnesses said she was briefly detained by federal agents for questioning.
The woman wrote a sworn affidavit detailing what she saw as evidence in an ongoing lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Trump Administration.
Her name was redacted, but she identified herself as a children’s entertainer specializing in face painting from the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis.
A woman, known as ‘pink coat lady’ online, who filmed the clearest footage of a protester being shot dead by immigration agents has filed a harrowing account of what she saw
Intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, was shot up to 10 times on Saturday as he lay on the ground while Customs and Border Protection agents tried to detain him
She explained that she heard whistles outside her home as she got ready from work about 8.50am on Saturday, indicating Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were nearby.
‘I decided to check it out on my way to work. I’ve been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors,’ she wrote.
The woman wrote that she saw Pretti with his phone in his hand filming ICE agents when one of the agents pushed another protester to the ground.
‘Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over,’ she wrote.
‘The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him.’
She wrote that Pretti tried to help the woman up but ‘the ICE agents just kept spraying’ so much that she could feel the pepper spray in her own eyes.
That’s when it all went badly wrong.
Video shows Alex Pretti, 37, already pepper-sprayed and on his knees when the clip begins
Multiple federal agents are seen surrounding Pretti as he is restrained on the pavement
One agent wearing a gray jacket and pink baseball cap reaches into the back of Pretti’s waistband in an apparent attempt to reach his firearm
‘The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them – he wasn’t even turned toward them,’ she wrote.
‘It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground.
‘Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times.
‘I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.’
The woman insisted the DHS account of what supposedly happened – that Pretti threatened agents with a gun – was completely wrong.
‘The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground,’ she wrote.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, could be seen the street filming with his phone while a small group confronts a federal agent. His other hand appeared to be empty
Pretti is seen holding his phone and appearing to speak or film as he engages with federal agents
The woman wrote that she went into hiding because she was afraid she would be arrested for filming the shooting.
‘I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don’t feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me,’ she wrote.
‘I don’t know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they’re not telling the truth about what happened.
‘I’ve heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building.
‘I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state.’
The woman’s footage showed Pretti be pepper-sprayed and forced to his knees.
Multiple DHS agents are seen surrounding him, struggling to restrain his arms and legs as he is pushed face-down onto the pavement.
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One agent wearing a gray jacket and pink baseball cap reaches into the back of Pretti’s waistband in an apparent attempt to reach his firearm
The law enforcement officer retrieves what appears to be a gun from Pretti before running across the road – at which point it may have accidentally gone off
Following the sound of gunfire, a DHS agent can be seen firing into Pretti’s back
As four agents remain engaged in the struggle, one officer, wearing a gray jacket and a pink rimmed baseball cap, appears to reach into the back waistband of Pretti’s pants and pull out a handgun.
The officer then moves away from the group, holding the weapon.
Suddenly, another agent draws his firearm and fires directly into Pretti’s back, who then collapses onto the street.
Agents are then seen backing away into the road as additional shots ring out.
In total, roughly 10 shots appear to be fired, even as Pretti lies motionless.
Federal officials have not explained why lethal force was used after Pretti appeared restrained and disarmed.
The agents can then be seen retreating into the road where at least another nine shots are fired
This 9mm semi-automatic handgun was retrieved from the waistband of Alex Pretti
Questions surrounding the shooting have been further sharpened by an affidavit from a 29-year-old physician whose apartment overlooks the scene and who rushed outside after hearing gunfire.
In legal filings, the doctor said agents initially prevented him from reaching Pretti, despite his repeated pleas to help.
‘At first, the ICE agents wouldn’t let me through,’ the doctor wrote. ‘They repeatedly asked me for my physician’s license, which I obviously didn’t have.’
The doctor said none of the agents near Pretti appeared to be performing CPR or checking for a pulse.
‘I could tell that the victim was in critical condition,’ he wrote. ‘I insisted that the agents let me assess him. Normally, I would not have been so persistent, but as a physician, I felt a professional and moral obligation to help this man, especially since none of the agents were helping him.’
Eventually, the doctor said, one agent agreed, but only after patting him down ‘to make sure I didn’t have a weapon’.
Pretti is pictured with his pet, Joule, a Catahoula Leopard dog, who recently died
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, could be seen on the street filming with his phone while a small group confronted a federal agent. His other hand appeared to be empty
Pretti’s family has fiercely disputed the federal account, calling it ‘sickening lies’ and insisting the video shows their son holding a phone, not a gun
When he reached Pretti, the doctor said he was confused by what he saw.
‘As I approached, I saw that the victim was lying on his side and was surrounded by several ICE agents,’ he wrote. ‘I was confused as to why the victim was on his side, because that is not standard practice when a victim has been shot.
‘Checking for a pulse and administering CPR is standard practice,’ he added. ‘Instead of doing either of those things, the ICE agents appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.’
Pretti was shot just over a mile from where Renee Good, 37, was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on January 7 – a case that had already sparked weeks of protests in Minneapolis.
After Saturday’s shooting, hundreds of protesters flooded the frigid streets, clashing with federal officers who deployed batons and flash bangs.
Governor Tim Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard, sending troops to the shooting site and to a nearby federal building where protests have occurred daily.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said information about what led up to the shooting was limited.
In other bystander videos Pretti can be seen holding a cellphone but not visibly armed.
Pretti’s family has fiercely disputed the federal account, calling it ‘sickening lies’ and insisting the video shows their son holding a phone, not a gun, as he tried to protect a woman who had been shoved by agents.
‘The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting.
‘Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,’ his family said in a statement.
Federal agents fire munitions toward demonstrators near the site where Pretti was shot dead
People gather around a makeshift memorial at the site where Alex Pretti was fatally shot
‘He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed.
‘Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.’
Pretti was hailed as a good and caring man by his grieving family.
Their statement said: ‘Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.
‘Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact.
‘I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.’
Pretti was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed getting into adventures with Joule, his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog who also recently died.
He had also participated in protests following the January 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs officer.
‘He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,’ said Michael Pretti, Alex’s father.
‘He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.’
Candles were lit and flowers placed while others stood in silence paying their respects at a vigil on Saturday evening.
Pretti was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed outdoor pursuits including mountain biking
People pay their respects during a candlelight vigil for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota
A demonstrator holds a sign during the candlelight vigil on Saturday evening
A couple embrace during a candlelight vigil
A sign for 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by a DHS officer earlier in the day
People mourn at a makeshift memorial in the area where Pretti was shot
As night fell, hundreds of people gathered somberly and quietly by the growing memorial at the shooting scene.
Caleb Spike came from a nearby suburb to show his support and his frustration. ‘It feels like every day something crazier happens,’ he said. ‘What´s happening in our community is wrong, it´s sickening, it´s disgusting.’
A nearby doughnut shop and clothing store stayed open to offer a place for people to warm up, as well as water, coffee and snacks.
