President Donald Trump said on Friday that video of Alex Pretti’s altercation with federal agents 11 days before he was shot and killed proves that the Minneapolis man was an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist.”
Trump argued that Pretti’s “stock has gone way down” after the video shows the man confronting federal agents in Minneapolis and kicking out the taillight of a federal vehicle. The video was released by The News Movement earlier this week and published by numerous news outlets.
“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,” Trump wrote in an early morning Truth Social post. “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!”
The footage shows a man yelling and spitting at federal immigration agents on January 13 before he damaged a federal vehicle as it began to drive away. Federal agents then got out of the vehicle and tackled the man to the ground. Pretti’s family confirmed that it was him in the video.
The Minnesota Star Tribune confirmed with Alex Pretti’s family that the man in this video is indeed Alex Pretti.
Filmed by @thenewsmovement on January 13, two weeks before Pretti was shot by ICE: pic.twitter.com/1yLKLApXvB
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) January 28, 2026
The Pretti family’s attorney, Steve Schleicher, said the video shows Pretti getting “violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents.” Before the video was released, CNN reported that Pretti broke a rib during an altercation with ICE agents a week before his death. One source who spoke to Pretti after the altercation told CNN, “That day, he thought he was going to die.” Pretti was reportedly released at the scene after the confrontation.
A little over a week later, Pretti was shot and killed in the street by Border Patrol agents after confronting authorities who were conducting an immigration operation. Pretti, who was armed with a 9 mm handgun, got into an altercation with agents as they were pushing demonstrators off the road. Video shows Pretti getting pepper-sprayed before he’s taken to the ground. Pretti then resists as officers attempt to detain him. The video appears to show one agent taking Pretti’s gun while he’s on the ground before two other agents fire around 10 shots in five seconds, killing Pretti.
After the deadly shooting, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” a response that sparked criticism from within Noem’s department, The Daily Wire previously reported. Earlier this week, Trump said he did not believe Pretti was “acting as an assassin,” as was suggested by top officials in his administration.
“With that being said, you can’t have guns,” Trump added. “You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t. You can’t walk in with guns, you can’t do that. But it’s a very unfortunate incident.”
After another Minneapolis resident, Renee Good, was shot and killed by an ICE officer earlier this month, the Trump administration also labeled her a domestic terrorist. The president, however, later said that “under normal circumstances,” Good was likely a “very, solid wonderful person,” adding, “But, you know, her actions were pretty tough.”
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