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Death sparks angry protests and condemnations

Immigration agents have shot and killed a man in Minneapolis, sparking angry protests and condemnations.

Hundreds of demonstrators braved freezing weather to protest against the shooting of Alex Pretti, described by his family as a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, during a confrontation on Saturday morning.

Multiple videos from the scene – taken from different angles – show the scuffle between federal immigration officers and Pretti.

Federal and state authorities have offered conflicting versions of what happened in the moments leading to the shooting, which took place less than three weeks after an agent killed Renee Good in her car in Minneapolis.

The Trump administration is characterising the moments leading up to Pretti’s death as an attack by him, claiming he approached officers with a handgun and, after he violently resisted attempts to disarm him, a border patrol agent fired in self defence.

But videos show no evidence to support the claim he used any armed force to threaten agents, instead showing him pepper-sprayed, wrestled to the ground and shot – after an agent appeared to remove a gun from the scuffle.

The Trump administration has described Pretti as a “domestic terrorist”. However, the Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz has described its account as “nonsense and lies.”

The shooting occurred on Saturday morning near Nicollet Avenue and 26th Street in south Minneapolis at 09:05 local time (15:05 GMT).

On Saturday night hundreds of people paid tribute to Pretti, lighting candles and chanting his name near the spot where he was shot.

During the day, hundreds of protesters showed their anger against the shooting and ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city, as armed and masked agents deployed tear gas and flashbang grenades.

Videos from the moments before the shooting show Pretti filming agents with his phone in the middle of the street, while he was taking part in protests against the immigration crackdown in the city.

Pretti was seen filming as a federal agent appeared to push away one woman and shove another woman to the ground.

Video appears to show Pretti moving between the agent and a women, raising his left arm to shield himself as the agent then sprays a substance in his eyes.

The videos show several agents then taking hold of Pretti and forcing him onto the ground.

An officer, who appears to approach the scuffle with empty hands, pulls back with what appears to be a gun in his hand.

As he moves away, a split second later another agent standing beside him opens fire. The agents jump back from the man lying on the ground and the firing continues.

The parents of Pretti – Michael Pretti and Susan Pretti – released a statement saying they were “heartbroken but also very angry”. They described their son as a “kind-hearted soul” who wanted to “make a difference”.

“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man,” they added.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Pretti “was there to perpetuate violence”, saying he approached federal agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

She said an agent feared for his life and other officers’ lives when he fired “defensive shots”. Pretti “committed an act of domestic terrorism,” Noem claimed.

Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino told a press conference on Saturday that it looked like Pretti wanted to “massacre” law enforcement.

An individual approached agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, Bovino said, and the agents “attempted to disarm the individual but he violently resisted”.

“Fearing for his life… a Border Patrol agent fired defensive shots,” Bovino added.

But Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz has strongly disputed this account as “lies”.

“I’ve seen the video from several angles and it’s sickening,” he said.

“Thank God, thank God, we have video because, according to DHS, these seven heroic guys took an onslaught of a battalion against them or something. It’s nonsense, people. It is nonsense, and it’s lies,” he told a press conference.

“The President must end this operation,” he said in a post on social media. “Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also called for ICE agents to leave the state.

“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the man who was killed was a lawful gun owner with no criminal record other than traffic violations.

The latest shooting follows of weeks of tensions between the Minnesota authorities, federal immigration agents and protesters who have taken to the streets to observe the agents.

President Donald Trump said local and state officials were “inciting insurrection”, suggesting without evidence that they called off local police from protecting federal immigration officers at the shooting scene.

Earlier this month, an ICE agent shot dead Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, during an enforcement action, which triggered widespread protests and accelerated political backlash against the federal operation.

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