ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations branch leading probe into fatal shooting of Alex Pretti

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations branch is leading the federal investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, FBI Director Kash Patel said.

HSI will be assisted by the FBI, according to multiple U.S. officials briefed on the investigation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is also conducting an internal administrative review through its Office of Professional Responsibility, as per standard practice, the officials said.

Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs, was shot and killed by an ICE agent around 9 a.m. local time Saturday in south Minneapolis.    

The decision to place HSI in the lead investigative role is unusual and has raised questions among current and former federal law enforcement officials, given that HSI is not typically tasked with investigating officer-involved shootings and is not structured or equipped to handle core elements of such cases, including ballistics analysis, forensic processing, firearm examinations, video review and large-scale witness canvassing.

HSI historically has investigated crimes with an international or immigration nexus, including human trafficking, drug smuggling, child exploitation and the theft of stolen artifacts.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on Fox News, “All the pieces of the investigation are being led by DHS in HSI, and I don’t want to comment on their ongoing investigation.” 

Patel added that investigators are focused on “mostly scientific evidence,” including fingerprints, DNA, how many rounds were fired and other physical evidence associated with the firearm.

A former senior ICE and HSI official told CBS News that the approach marks a clear break from prior administrations and long-standing practice. The official said it makes little sense for the Department of Homeland Security to oversee a criminal investigation into a fatal shooting involving its own personnel rather than turning the matter over to an outside entity, describing the current setup as highly irregular. 

“That’s not the way it was done before this admin,” one former senior ICE official told CBS News, calling the Trump administration’s move “not normal.”

The former official noted HSI agents are criminal investigators, but said a probe into a Border Patrol shooting should be handled by an entity outside of the Department of Homeland Security. Both ICE and Border Patrol are overseen by DHS.

Any potential prosecution would still have to be handled by the Justice Department.

Pretti is the second person killed by ICE agents in recent weeks in Minneapolis, after Renee Good was fatally shot on Jan. 7. In both cases, administration officials said the agents were acting in self-defense, but eyewitness accounts and videos appeared to contradict some of their claims.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti approached several officers with a handgun. They attempted to disarm him, but he “reacted violently,” and “fearing for his life and the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots,” she said. 

Bystander videos reviewed and verified by CBS News show Pretti was holding a phone in his right hand and nothing in his left before the shooting. Multiple videos show a federal agent reaching into the scuffle empty-handed and emerging with a gun in his right hand, then turning away from the man when the first shot is fired.

Local officials said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, and that his only previous interaction with law enforcement was for traffic violations. Under Minnesota law, it’s legal to carry a handgun in public if you have a valid permit.

Witnesses who said they were at the scene of the shooting also contradicted accounts of federal officials, with one saying in a sworn declaration submitted in federal court, “The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera.” 

He also said “agents pulled the man on the ground,” adding, “I didn’t see him touch any of them.”

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