How two federal agents escalated an encounter with Alex Pretti into a deadly shooting

By Isabelle Chapman, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Audrey Ash, Thomas Bordeaux, Gianna Toboni, CNN

(CNN) — In the chaotic moments leading up to Alex Pretti’s death on Saturday, the aggressive actions of two federal agents transformed the encounter into a deadly shooting, a CNN analysis of video has found.

While other agents helped restrain Pretti on a Minneapolis street and seized a handgun from his waistband, video shows these agents significantly escalated the confrontation — first by pepper spraying and striking Pretti repeatedly in the face and on the head, and then by drawing their weapons and firing at him, even after he was on the ground, unarmed.

The conduct of those two agents, from the earliest moments interacting with demonstrators up through their decision to pull weapons and fire at Pretti, illustrate the dangers of flooding American cities with officers ill-equipped to deal with protesters in urban environments, experts told CNN.

While major city police departments have embraced a philosophy of cooling down heated encounters with the public, the immigration officers in Minneapolis did the opposite – right up to the moment of Pretti’s death.

“Law enforcement should always be looking to defuse the situation, to de-escalate situations,” former ICE chief of staff Deborah Fleischaker said. “Instead of doing that, they’re leaning into the ways that they can escalate.”

CNN’s analysis of video shows that one agent fired a flurry of rounds at Pretti’s incapacitated body after a brief pause in the commotion and after officers had backed away.

These two agents appear to be the two officers identified as the shooters in an initial report by the Department of Homeland Security about the incident. DHS said it wouldn’t release the identities of the officers, who have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol for agents involved in shootings while they are under investigation.

Law enforcement experts who reviewed the videos for CNN said the officers’ use of deadly force likely stemmed from lack of training or a failure by the agents to follow it during the heated encounter.

“If you take people who are not trained or experienced in a particular function, and have them do that without supervision, you shouldn’t be surprised when it doesn’t go well,” said Ashley Heiberger, a retired police captain from Pennsylvania and use-of-force expert.

A DHS spokesperson declined to provide details on what training these two agents had received, but said: “Many of our agents have backgrounds in the military or law enforcement and Border Patrol agents receive extensive federal law enforcement training … just as ICE officers do. The disgusting attempts by the media to say these agents are not trained to enforce the law is shameful and laughable.”

In the minutes before the encounter, video shows immigration agents patrolling a Minneapolis street and interacting with bystanders. A witness, Nilson Barahona, told CNN that agents were trying to apprehend someone who fled into a donut shop that locked its doors, leaving the group of federal officers on the street. Agents detained one observer as others blew whistles, yelled at them, and recorded video on their phones.

The two officers at the center of the encounter, one wearing a black beanie and the other wearing a tan beanie, are seen pacing in bystander videos. The officer in the black beanie appears to shake a pepper spray canister toward protesters.

Pretti, meanwhile, can be seen directing traffic and guiding a woman out of the street.

Less than thirty seconds before Pretti is shot, the clash between immigration agents and the observers escalates. Video shows the agent in the tan beanie repeatedly shoving observers.

Pretti can be heard saying, “Hey, do not push them into the traffic!” The agent shoves the observer again, and then turns his attention to Pretti, pushing him out of the way before shoving the observer to the ground. Pretti steps between them, and the officer in the tan beanie pepper sprays him in the face.

Video shows that in the seconds before Pretti is shot, the 37-year-old ICU nurse grabs the observer’s backpack when he is pulled to the ground by a group of agents. In his right hand, he’s holding a cellphone.

The officer in the tan beanie repeatedly hits Pretti in the head with the pepper spray canister.

The DHS report on its initial investigation into Pretti’s death says an officer yelled, “He’s got a gun” multiple times before the officers fired.

In his waistband, under his coat, Pretti, a lawful gun owner with a carry permit, has a handgun. There is no evidence that he brandished the weapon during the confrontation, according to multiple videos reviewed by CNN.

At the time of the warning, the weapon was still in Pretti’s waistband. One law enforcement agent who reviewed the footage for CNN noted that just seeing a weapon doesn’t warrant shooting.

“The key is the hands,” said Marc Brown, who trained immigration officers at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. “If the hands are occupied on the ground … the weapon is a concern, but not necessarily a problem or threat.”

In the seconds before the shooting, the officer in the black beanie is turned away from Pretti, preoccupied with another protester. Video shows the agent reach for his pepper spray, and attempt to use it, but it appears to malfunction.

That officer then turns his attention to the group of officers trying to restrain Pretti. In the midst of that tussle, one of the officers can be heard shouting: “Gun! Gun! Gun!” Pretti is on his knees and bent forward. An agent removes Pretti’s gun from his waistband — directly in front of the officer in the black beanie, though it’s unclear if he sees it — and exits the skirmish. At the same time, the agent in the black beanie draws his weapon.

About a second after the agent holding Pretti’s weapon starts moving away, the officer in the black beanie appears to fire four shots at Pretti.

As the officers back away from Pretti, there’s a pause in shooting that lasts just under a second, according to an analysis of the shooting audio by Robert Maher, an audio forensic expert at Montana State University. Pretti is lying face up on the ground, motionless.

The officer in the black beanie backs away with his gun drawn, though pointed down. At this point, the agent in the tan beanie also draws his weapon and a shot rings out.

After another pause, the agent in the black beanie raises his gun again, and five more shots are fired. The other officers have all backed away at this point.

Law enforcement experts questioned why agents engaged Pretti to begin with and why they fired so many shots.

“The entire shooting is concerning,” said Scott Mourtgos, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina. “I’m extremely concerned by the second volley. Even if one wants to give officers the benefit of the doubt on that first volley … I do not understand how one could reasonably explain those additional shots in the second volley were necessary.”

Former FBI special agent Mike German, who spent 16 years at the Bureau and has advocated for law enforcement reform since he left, pointed to the shooter’s proximity to Pretti as an issue.

“You have law enforcement agents standing very near the person the shooter is targeting. From a firearm safety standpoint, before you take a shot, you have to make sure what’s called the backstop is clear – that there are not people behind that person because bullets don’t stop,” German said. “That’s problematic and quite dangerous to their fellow agents.”

Three law enforcement experts told CNN the pattern of shots could be indicative of contagious fire, a term used to describe when an officer fires a weapon in response to the sound of another officer’s gunfire.

“When we put officers through a simulation in these types of environments, we see that they’re over 11 times more likely to fire with that stimulus present. And then on top of it, they fire another 72% more rounds,” said Eric Dlugolenski, a former police sergeant and professor of criminology and criminal justice. “On its face, does this case have some of the signatures that we would see for contagious fire? Definitely potential. So that would be analysis that would be kind of prudent here.”

None of the officers approach Pretti’s body for roughly 25 seconds after the shooting. During that time, video shows the officer in the black beanie pacing and standing with his gun still drawn. Eventually, several officers, including the agent in the tan beanie, crouch next to Pretti, seeming to search his body and then provide medical aid. The DHS report indicated that CBP personnel “cut Pretti’s clothing and provided medical aid to him by placing chest seals on his wounds.”

Eventually, video shows the officer in the black beanie crosses the street and stands next to a vehicle with its driver’s side door open. He watches from there as EMS administers first aid. He doesn’t appear to ever approach Pretti’s body.

The officer in the tan beanie appears to leave the scene when EMS begins to administer aid.

The DHS report identifies the officers who fired at Pretti as a Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer. Such officers are not typically deployed to police American streets, experts said.

“Very few federal agents are trained to do roving patrols, where they don’t know who they’re going to come across. That’s more of a state and local police function,” said German.

Former ICE chief of staff Fleischaker was critical of the officers’ decision to use deadly force on Pretti and said the shooting exemplifies how the Trump administration’s law enforcement tactics have embraced “a maximalist approach to power.”

CNN’s Casey Tolan contributed to this report.

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