Alex Pretti was among 50 anti-ICE agitators confronting Minnesota Border Patrol before he was shot

Anti-ICE activist Alex Pretti was part of a local group of around 50 agitators who turned up to confront Border Patrol agents as they were carrying out the arrest of a criminal illegal immigrant in Minneapolis on Saturday before he was shot by federal officers.

A woman by the name of Blair told the New York Post of the action conducted by the anti-ICE agitators, “It was quiet. It was Saturday, and people weren’t working. Word got around that a bunch of ICE agents had shown up and were making rounds, so folks mobilized.”

“It wasn’t that many people — maybe 50 altogether, which sounds like a lot, but it isn’t," she added. “At about 8:30 I heard a bunch of gunshots, and we knew something bad had happened. The next thing we knew, ambulances showed up.”

Pretti, 37, was fatally shot by federal agents as he was resisting arrest. In one clip, an officer can be heard yelling, “gun.” Authorities have said that they believe an errant shot came from Pretti’s gun after it was removed, possibly leading the agents to fire.

Pretti was a registered Democrat and had previously gone out during the BLM unrest after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Blair claimed Pretti was not one to get confrontational but would often shout at ICE officers during anti-ICE actions.

After more footage has been released in the shooting of Pretti, some have raised questions about what was initially said about him by Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who said that Pretti appeared to want to cause “maximum damage” and kill law enforcement.

The footage showed Pretti attempting to step between an agent and a woman who was getting pepper-sprayed. As this happened, he was then taken down by multiple agents and an agent in a gray coat then appeared to pull a gun from Pretti’s waistband before the shooting took place.

Officials said that the agents reacted in fear for their lives as well as others around them when the shooting took place. The federal government is also reviewing body cam footage from the shooting to better determine what took place.