Protests in Minneapolis after man shot dead by immigration agents

The killing of a second US citizen in less than a month during anti-immigration raids in Minneapolis has sparked angry protests and widespread condemnation.

Hundreds of demonstrators braved freezing weather to take to the streets over 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 officers and Pretti. Federal and state authorities have offered conflicting versions of what happened in the moments leading to the shooting.

Trump ordered federal agents to the Democrat-held state in December, pledging a massive deportation of undocumented migrants.

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 raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), as armed and masked agents used 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.

The Trump administration has described Pretti as a “domestic terrorist”.

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

Videos have emerged showing a scuffle between Border Patrol agents and the man just before the shooting.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the agents fired in self-defence after Pretti resisted their attempts to disarm him.

Eyewitnesses, local officials and the victim’s family have challenged that account, pointing out he had a phone in his hand, not a weapon. His parents accused the administration of spreading “sickening lies” about what happened.

BBC Verify analysed multiple videos showing the moments just before the shooting. They show Pretti filming agents with his mobile phone. One of the agents pushes another person over, and Pretti then stands between that person and the agent.

The agent pepper-sprays him in the face and, as he tries to help the woman on the floor, more agents join and he is wrestled to the floor. None of the available videos shows Pretti holding a gun.

An agent in a grey jacket can be seen empty-handed as he reaches to remove something from Pretti’s waist. He then turns away from Pretti, now holding what appears to be a pistol in his right hand.

Less than a second after this, an agent shoots Pretti. Ten shots are heard.

In filed testimony, two witnesses challenged the DHS account of what happened, both saying they did not see Pretti brandish a weapon.

But Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that the videos were unclear and “there is a lot we don’t see” in them so it was important to have an investigation.

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, 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.

It is legal in Minnesota to carry a handgun in public if you have a permit.

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.