New video appears to show Alex Pretti spitting at ICE and damaging SUV before shooting

WASHINGTON, DC: A newly surfaced video published Wednesday, January 28, appears to show Alex Pretti in a tense street confrontation with immigration agents in Minneapolis less than two weeks before he was fatally shot by federal officers. 

In the widely shared footage, a man believed to be Pretti is seen yelling, spitting at agents, and damaging a government vehicle, moments that end with him being thrown to the ground amid chaos.

But does the clip really show Pretti? Read on to see what verified reports say about the incident and its connection to the deadly January 24 shooting that has ignited protests and scrutiny over federal enforcement tactics. 

BBC confirms Alex Pretti was seen spitting on an ICE agent’s SUV

The News Movement captured the incident on January 13 and shared it in a post on X, stating that it “appears to be Alex Pretti interacting with federal immigration agents.” The outlet said it had the footage analyzed by the BBC, “whose facial recognition technology confirmed his identity to a 97% degree of accuracy.”

The BBC later confirmed the video’s authenticity during its 10 pm GMT news broadcast. Reporter Ros Atkins said the man in the footage “has the same coat, facial hair and gait as Alex Pretti and a facial recognition tool suggests a 97% match. We see him shouting abuse at the agents.”

CNN, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and other outlets have since confirmed with the Pretti family that the man shown in the video is him.

A narrator in the video said TNM’s team, reporters Dallin Mello and Dan Ming, received a tip that federal agents were blocking a street in Minneapolis around 10:15 am.

When the reporters arrived, they recorded a man who resembled Pretti spitting on a Ford SUV and shouting at immigration agents that they were “f*cking trash!” The man wore a black hat and brown coat and had a beard, which the narrator noted closely matched the outfit Pretti wore when he was killed on January 24. The man then kicked the vehicle twice, smashing the right tail light, and flipped the middle finger at the SUV.

At that point, “An agent then got out of the vehicle, grabbed him, and pushed him to the ground,” the voiceover said. The footage shows the man who appeared to be Pretti attempting to scurry away from one agent before another agent grabbed him, and both agents threw him down.

“During the altercation, agents fired tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd,” the narrator continued. “They continue to hold the man down before they retreat and he walks away.” The narrator added that the footage appears to show a gun “visible above his waistband.”

DHS reviews video as Trump orders Pretti shooting probe

Homeland Security Investigations agents reviewed a video that allegedly showed Alex Pretti attacking federal officers days before federal immigration agents shot and killed him in Minneapolis, according to officials and news reports.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that HSI was actively reviewing the footage.

Noem recently sparked criticism by asserting that Pretti acted as a domestic terrorist who approached Border Patrol agents with a firearm, a claim tied to statements from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who labeled Pretti an “assassin” on X, sources told Axios.

President Donald Trump called for a full investigation into the incident on Tuesday, January 27, and officials placed two federal agents on administrative leave the following day amid an ongoing review of the circumstances that led to Pretti’s death.

Meanwhile, conservative actor Dean Cain defended ICE and Border Patrol agents after Pretti’s fatal shooting in Minneapolis, saying on Monday, January 26, that Pretti “certainly wasn’t there just being a peaceful protester” and criticizing how he engaged with federal law enforcement while armed.

Cain added that Pretti “was standing between law enforcement officers and that woman,” which he called “a mistake in its own right,” and said that confronting federal agents “while armed is a bad, bad idea.”