A U.S. court has granted a temporary restraining order to restrict federal from “altering or destroying” evidence about immigration officers killing a 37-year-old man in Minneapolis this weekend.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti on Saturday.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said agents acted in self-defence, alleging Pretti was armed.
Video from bystanders shows Pretti holding a phone as he approached ICE agents.
Background
ICE is the federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S. immigration laws, including deportation. It falls under the DHS.
When Trump returned to office in January 2025, he pushed to increase arrests to 3,000 people per day by mid-2025, up from a few hundred under the Biden administration.
ICE’s activities in multiple U.S. cities have been widely protested.
In late December, ICE launched its “largest immigration operation ever,” deploying 2,000 agents to Minneapolis.
Shooting
On Saturday morning (local time), local authorities responded to reports of a shooting involving ICE agents during a “targeted operation” in Minneapolis.
The DHS has alleged that during this operation, Pretti approached agents with a gun.
The agency alleged that as agents attempted to disarm him, Pretti “violently resisted” arrest, leading to an agent firing “defensive shots”.
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Video captured by bystanders shows Pretti approaching agents with a phone.
Videos also show a group of masked agents grabbed Pretti, spraying something in his face, and pushed him to the ground. One agent appears to take a gun from Pretti’s body.
Once agents were holding Pretti down, investigators say at least two agents shot him several times in quick succession.
Emergency services attempted to treat Pretti at the scene. He was later pronounced dead.
Pretti was a U.S. citizen with no criminal history and a legal permit to carry a gun. He worked as an ICU nurse at a medical centre for U.S. Army veterans.
Response
The DHS defended its officers’ actions, saying they were defending themselves against “an individual who wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”.
In response, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for Trump to end “the invasion of these heavily armed masked agents roaming the streets... emboldened with a sense of impunity”.
Frey has formally requested assistance from the National Guard (a reserve military force) to support the city’s “limited number of officers”.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has called on the Trump administration to let the state lead the investigation into what he described as “organised brutality,” saying the state’s justice system “must have the last word”.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been granted a temporary restraining order to stop federal agents from “altering or destroying” any evidence connected to this weekend’s shooting.
Former president Barack Obama has accused Trump of failing to impose “discipline and accountability” over his agents, saying they are employing “unprecedented tactics”.
