US Justice Department opens federal civil rights probe into death of Alex Pretti

The US Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights probe into the death of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis nurse killed on Saturday by Border Patrol officers, according to federal officials.

“We’re looking at everything that would shed light on that day,” deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday.

“That’s like any investigation that the Department of Justice and the FBI does every day. It means we’re looking at video, talking to witnesses, trying to understand what happened.”

Mr Blanche did not explain why DOJ decided to open an investigation into Mr Pretti’s killing, but has said a similar probe is not warranted in the death on January 7 of Renee Good, who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officer in Minneapolis.

He said only that the Civil Rights Division does not investigate every law enforcement shooting and that there have to be circumstances and facts that “warrant an investigation”.

“President Trump has said repeatedly, ‘Of course, this is something we’re going to investigate,’” Mr Blanche said of the Pretti shooting. “It doesn’t mean that every time that there is a federal-officer related shooting that that’s something Civil Rights takes up. It depends on the circumstances.”

“There has to be circumstances or facts or maybe unknown facts, but certainly circumstances, that warrant an investigation,” he added.

The development followed confirmation by the Department of Homeland Security earlier in the day that the FBI would now lead the probe into Mr Pretti’s death.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem first disclosed the investigation’s shift to the FBI during a Fox News interview on Thursday evening.

Her department said earlier this week that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a unit within the department, would be heading the investigation.

“We will continue to follow the investigation that the FBI is leading and giving them all the information that they need to bring that to conclusion, and make sure that the American people know the truth of the situation and how we can go forward and continue to protect the American people,” Ms Noem said, speaking to Fox host Sean Hannity.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed on Friday that the FBI will lead the Pretti probe and that HSI will support them.

Separately, Customs and Border Protection, which is part of DHS, is doing its own internal investigation into the shooting, during which two officers opened fire on Mr Pretti.

The DHS did not immediately respond to questions about when the change was made or why. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was also not immediately clear whether the FBI would now share information and evidence with Minnesota state investigators, who have thus far been frozen out of the federal probe.

In the same interview, Ms Noem appeared to distance herself from statements she made shortly after the shooting, claiming Mr Pretti had brandished a handgun and aggressively approached officers.

Multiple videos that emerged of the shooting contradicted that claim, showing the intensive care nurse had only his mobile phone in his hand as officers tackled him to the ground, with one removing a handgun from the back of Mr Pretti’s trousers as another officer began firing shots into his back.

Mr Pretti had a state permit to carry legally a concealed firearm. At no point did he appear to reach for it, the videos showed.

“I know you realise that situation was very chaotic, and that we were being relayed information from on the ground from CBP agents and officers that were there,” Ms Noem said during the interview on Thursday.

“We were using the best information we had at the time, seeking to be transparent with the American people and get them what we knew to be true on the ground.”

The change comes after two other videos emerged on Wednesday of an earlier altercation between Mr Pretti and federal immigration officers 11 days before his death.

The January 13 videos show Mr Pretti in a winter coat, yelling at federal vehicles and at one point appearing to spit before kicking out the taillight of one vehicle.

A struggle ensues between Mr Pretti and several officers, during which he is forced to the ground. Mr Pretti’s winter coat comes off, and he either breaks free or the officers let him go and he moves away.

When he turns his back to the camera, what appears to be a handgun is visible in his waistband. At no point do the videos show Mr Pretti reaching for the gun, and it is not clear whether federal agents saw it.

Steve Schleicher, a Minneapolis-based lawyer representing Mr Pretti’s parents, said on Wednesday the earlier altercation in no way justified officers fatally shooting Mr Pretti more than a week later.

In a post on his Truth Social platform early on Friday morning, US President Donald Trump suggested that the videos of the earlier incident undercut the narrative that Mr Pretti was a peaceful protester when he was shot.

“Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces,” Mr Trump’s post said.

“It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances!”