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Man Shot And Killed By Federal Agents in Minneapolis; Interview With Representative James Walkinshaw (D-VA). Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 24, 2026 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:00:27]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett and we are following the breaking news at this hour out of Minneapolis.

Tension and unrest there after a 37-year-old man was shot and killed by federal agents today. That man has now been identified by law enforcement sources as Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti. Sources telling CNN he was an ICU nurse at a VA medical center.

Now the scene captured on video, and we'll warn you, of course, watching this is very disturbing, but it is now very important to know exactly what happened. And what you're looking at is several federal officers surrounding the man before the shooting occurred. Homeland Security is saying that the agents acted in self-defense, and that the man approached Border Patrol officers with a nine-millimeter semi- automatic handgun.

They're saying all of this, of course, prior to any investigation. Some members of the Trump administration have quickly labeled him as a domestic terrorist. The DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, was asked about that a short time ago. And here is how she responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: When you perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence, that is the definition of domestic terrorism.

This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers, committed an act of domestic terrorism. That's the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK. Well, again, no investigation there. She hadn't even seen all of the videos. But authorities are using tear gas and flashbangs to disperse the crowd at the scene then ensued. The protesters, of course, are out in subzero conditions.

This is the third shooting and the second fatal one this month involving federal agents in Minneapolis. The city is now becoming a flashpoint in President Trump's federal immigration crackdown.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says that the man who was killed was a, quote, "lawful firearm, concealed permit carrier." He and other state and local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, are calling on the Trump administration to remove ICE from the city now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS: To President Trump, this is a moment to act like a leader. Put Minneapolis, put America first in this moment. Let's achieve peace. Let's end this operation. And I'm telling you, our city will come back. Safety will be restored. We're asking for you to take action now to remove these federal agents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: We have full team coverage of this still unfolding story on this Saturday night. CNN's Sara Sidner is live in Minneapolis. She was there. She's been on the scene all day and near.

Now, Sara, I know a growing memorial that has spontaneously happened on this tragic day. What is happening now?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, people who are out here from Minneapolis, people who have been protesting, are saying, don't believe the lies, believe your eyes. There is plenty of video out there showing what happened with DHS now trying to say that this man, 37-year-old Alex Pretti, saying he was here to massacre law enforcement.

And then they say, look at the video, look at what he was doing here. He was here trying to protect someone who he put his arms around. You see him doing that in several of these videos, trying to get her it looked like away from ICE. That's what one witness said, who was in the donut shop that I spoke with. And they are trying to say that he was here for some other reason, for some dastardly, dangerous reason.

People here say it is ICE that is dangerous, not the people that they have been going after, not the people that they have killed. They have shot three people in less than a month. So there is a reason why people are out in the streets and they do not plan to stop coming out in these streets. Their demand is to have ICE leave this community now.

Now, what you saw earlier today was a lot of tear gas fired by federal agents. Then you had state and local police come in. It seemed they formed a line allowing the federal agents to leave. And then things did begin to calm down. But I will show you this, because things have gone from fury and dealing with war-like situations in the middle of the street, which really this is Eat Street here in Minneapolis. This is a place that you normally come to have a great meal.

[19:05:01]

It is multicultural. There are all kinds of different wonderful restaurants here turned into this morning a war zone. I was here for it. It did look like that. And you know, I have covered many wars in my time.

I'm going to have Jerry let you see what's happening now because it started with fury and it is really ending in solemn sorrow for the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti. He was a ICU nurse at the local veterans' facility here. He was a person who came out. You can see him in one video filming people. He may have been called out with many others. You know, they use this system where they're communicating with each other when they see ICE action, to have people come out and as they say, protect their own.

And he was out here. Certainly in one video, you see him using his camera. And we learned also from the governor that he had a legal permit to carry. There is nothing illegal about carrying a weapon in Minnesota if you have the permit for it. And he had that. So there are a lot of questions that must be asked about the federal government's version of events versus what you are seeing on video and what you are hearing from witnesses.

Let me let you -- let me let you listen to what a witness told me. He was inside that donut shop this morning, having no idea, just eating his breakfast, and then seeing this commotion and horror, seeing -- I will move in just two seconds. Thank you. The commotion and horror that unfolded before his eyes. He himself, by the way, had been detained by ICE in 2019. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What did you see before the shooting? Just before the shooting. And then what did you see happen?

NILSON BARAHONA, WITNESS: Well, what I saw that there was a lot of people, you know, getting together, trying to come and get the attention from the officers, and they managed to do it. But the way that the officers reacted when they saw these people, you know, they started pushing them away and like being physical to them, you know. And as they were being physical to this one lady in particular, she tried to look like to somebody, you know, to grab on to.

And it just happened to be this person who got shot. And I saw him like trying to hug her and push her away to the sidewalk. But when he did that, all the officers got their attention on him, you know, as he was the one taking that woman away from their hands and everything escalated so fast. It's like, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You hear the emotion. He did end up starting to cry because this has been really, really traumatic for those who witnessed this traumatic of course for anyone who saw what happened here today.

You are seeing live the memorial to this 37-year-old ICU nurse who came out here to help his community and ended up being shot by ICE. Of course, DHS having another version of events, but a lot of folks around here are saying all you have to do is use your eyes. They feel that the messaging from DHS is absolutely not correct. And they say, look, just look for the proof yourself as to what happened. That is the situation here. People -- they just want one thing.

They want the federal government to leave this community so that this community can begin to heal. We do understand now that the National Guard is on its way, on its way into the community. The governor has called for the National Guard. The one thing that would calm things down is if the federal agents were to leave this community. Anything other than that, you're going to see things ratchet up. That is what we're hearing from folks here.

BURNETT: All right. Sara Sidner, we're going to be going to you throughout our breaking coverage tonight. Of course, Sara there as all this unfolded today.

I want to go now to the White House and our senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes, who is there.

Kristen, you know, Sara talking about exactly what happened on the ground, and the response that we've heard from some in the administration, DHS secretary. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also speaking out. What are you learning?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, you hear Sara there saying that the only thing that is going to calm the situation is these agents getting out of Minneapolis. And when you talk to the administration, that is just simply not on the table here. The administration is doubling down on their efforts. They are not only backing this agent who pulled the trigger here and supporting their agents on the ground, but they're also blaming the local officials for the way that this has unfolded.

Take a listen to Secretary Noem here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOEM: We don't have this problem in Texas or in Florida because those individuals in those states work with us, and they make sure that they keep peace and calm while they bring criminals to justice. In Minneapolis, Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, they instead choose violence. They instead choose to encourage the destruction of their city and the crime against their people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:10:02]

HOLMES: And I want to be clear here. This is the message, Erin, that's coming out of the White House. Kristi Noem was on the phone all day with the White House, with various officials. They were talking about what her response was going to be. They wanted, they being the White House, DHS to lead the response on this because, of course, that is the agency that oversees these agents that are in Minneapolis.

But again, just to Sara's point, it feels as though this is going to escalate more before it calms down, because talking to these administration officials, to these Trump allies, everyone is saying the same thing, that as of this moment, they are supporting this agent, they are supporting the agency, and they are supporting this idea of having these agents in Minneapolis. There's no talk of kind of trying to walk it back.

And just, Erin, one of the things that I want to point to is some of our reporting for the last couple of days, which is the fact that President Trump has been frustrated that the chaos in Minneapolis, he believes, is overshadowing his message on immigration. He's seen all the poll numbers that show that a majority of Americans across the country do not like what these agents are doing in these various communities.

But instead of blaming the actions of the agents or of the policy, he has essentially lashed out, saying that it's the messaging, that people aren't getting to hear what the actual agents are doing that is positive on the ground. But obviously, as I say that, we just have to remind our viewers that we're showing the videos and the pictures of the things that are happening on the ground. That is what Americans are responding to.

BURNETT: Yes, it is to the actual images of what is happening on the ground.

Kristen Holmes, thank you very much. We'll be going back to the White House here as Kristen gets more throughout the evening.

I want to bring in now the former Boston Police commissioner, Ed Davis, along with chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.

Chief Davis, I just have to ask you, when you look at this, some of the videos that we've had coming in and just this moment that we're in, you know, from your perspective and you know Brian O'Hara, right, the chief out in Minneapolis, I mean, what happens now in Minneapolis?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, tragically things could get worse. People are not getting any kind of message of calm or a message that we're going to look into this and make sure that policy was being followed or the kinds of responsible government statements that we usually see in a situation like that. We're getting statements that, quite frankly, are false on their face.

If you look at this video and then you hear somebody say that this was a man intent on murdering a bunch of police officers, I just don't see that. And I don't see this statement that Bovino made today that these officers were approached by this man. They were pushing a woman around. The man tried to assist the woman, and they jumped on him. That's what I saw.

Now, there's got to be an investigation done. All the facts have to be brought forward. But don't say who you're going to believe, me or your lying eyes. Right? I know what I saw. I've done these things, and I know what's right and what's wrong, and I don't see anything right with what happened here.

BURNETT: And yet, John, they have come out and given sort of this as the conclusion, right? This is what happened and everything was fine. And we back our team 100 percent. And basically, why don't we move on here? I mean, it completely is missing the reality, perhaps not just of what happened but of what is going to happen.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, this is a pattern we've seen, which is they tend to talk about these things as black and white, as right or wrong, and they tend to do it by giving answers that no one could possibly know. And I say that as, and you know, Ed knows this from his own experience, Commissioner Davis knows, if you've investigated numerous police involved shootings, these are very complicated affairs.

And there's what the officers believe they saw, what was in their mind at the time that they fired a shot or others fired a shot. There's what's on the body cameras, which we're not going to have here because they're not operating with body cameras in Minneapolis, which they could be and obviously should be. So, you know, you do a meticulous investigation trying to reconstruct what happened from every angle.

And then you come to a determination, the idea of coming to a public determination not only as to what happened, or whether it was justified, again, at a time when nobody could know that without investigation. And to be able to label people on the other side as domestic terrorists, which is not a label that has fit most of the people they have peeled it on, just shows that there is a cognitive dissonance going on here to years and years of established process about how these things are supposed to be handled with a thorough investigation, with a level of transparency, with charges if warranted or if not warranted, with a report that says what they found and why they decided what they decided.

[19:15:31]

BURNETT: Right. And of course, no indication of any of that. And obviously, when you look at what happened to Renee Nicole Good, you've got in that case, they were going to investigate her. They are not investigating the ICE officer who shot her, and they've made that clear. No investigation at all, which is against, as you point out, any prior precedent --

MILLER: I remember that.

BURNETT: Yes. Or the way things would ordinarily go.

Commissioner Davis, so at this moment, though, we're looking at crowds gathered in Minneapolis. We're looking at a memorial and the question is, is this going to escalate into something terrible? OK, and nobody knows. We do know that at this moment, the governor, Tim Walz, has activated the National Guard.

So what does that mean, Commissioner? The National Guard is activated. Do you -- can you walk through what that would ordinarily mean, even though this is no ordinary situation, but in terms of what's happening on the ground in Minneapolis.

DAVIS: Right. Well, this is a special situation. And the governor is taking action that is probably necessary at this point. There's an important distinction here, though. If the public can distinguish between the enforcement of one federal agency and the deployment of troops whose charge is to keep the peace, this may ratchet it down, especially if there are adult style comments made by the governor and the mayor, which is what I've heard today.

So don't act up. Don't burn our city down. Please don't lower yourself to that level. Those are the things that may make a big difference here. The problem, though, is if ICE doesn't back off and they continue to have these encounters and they continue to wreak this kind of violence that we're seeing, there's no controlling this people. People are angry and it could get worse.

BURNETT: John, I just want to, as Commissioner Davis was speaking, we did just get some new video of what happened. This is a new angle. So as all of this is coming down to, you know, looking at it from every single angle on the confusion, let's watch this together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm rolling the windows. (INAUDIBLE) inside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So this is really the before, John. So you see them -- OK. All right? OK. Now we're watching it again. So -- right? We're watching it again here. This is -- OK. So this is kind of the lead into it which is so important because Commissioner Davis was saying earlier you can look at the incident itself and any questions about what happened before.

So, John, when you look at this and you see agents come over to Alex Pretti, you see this interaction, OK?

MILLER: Yes.

BURNETT: So you're sort of seeing the start of the first time when agents and he interact. I believe this is the angle were looking at here.

MILLER: That's right. So you --

BURNETT: It certainly doesn't look from what we're seeing here in this instant that this is something that's about to devolve into someone being shot multiple times.

MILLER: No. But as you string these videos together in this encounter, this appears to be their first encounter. You know, he's got his phone out, he's recording them, and they're pushing him out of the street towards the sidewalk. As that devolves, we see, as Commissioner Davis described, a woman who gets pushed by the agent who falls down into the snow. Then you see Mr. Pretti emerge and try to fend off the agent, who then takes a chemical agent like pepper spray and sprays it directly on him as he's trying to pull another person away.

Possibly somebody they're trying to arrest, who he's trying to yank away. Either way, he ends up at the bottom of this scrum. And this is the critical moment because we've strung together those moments. What happens when he's on the ground and he is struggling and they are struggling with him? Do they discover a gun? Do they take a gun off him? One thing you'll notice, and we'll see this tape a little bit later, is when one of the agents suddenly draws his weapon.

Now you know that something has changed dramatically, and within a second there are shots, one, two, three, and then a number more. Almost 10 or a dozen in total. They're very fast. But what was that element that changed? We know from the official statements that he was allegedly carrying a weapon, which he's licensed for.

[19:20:03]

Did they find it? Did it fall out? Did he try to pull it? These are all really important questions to understanding what was the pathway to deadly physical force here, and firing those shots. And I have to say something based on my experience, and I defer to Commissioner Davis.

When you have something like that, one of the big hazards, whether you're taking the gun off the other person or you're drawing your own firearm in the middle of a scrum, is an accidental discharge. One agent who gets, you know, pushed the wrong way, finger within the trigger guard, a shot goes off. But then, as Josh Campbell described earlier, sympathetic gunfire, which is the other agents react by saying, somebody shooting at us, and let additional rounds go.

Now I'm far afield here. This is speculation, but it's speculation based on experience of many similar investigations, both in New York and Los Angeles. So these are the kinds of things that they're really going to need to delve into by hopefully interviewing everybody separately and getting each person's view of what happened in that scrum.

BURNETT: Yes, because we don't -- we don't know. Right? We don't know answers to some of those crucial questions. You point even how many people were shooting with all of that shooting happening so quickly.

All right. We'll take a break. Both of you, of course, going to be with us, Ed Davis and John Miller, as we follow the breaking news in Minneapolis tonight. A lot going on as crowds gathered on the ground there. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:12]

BURNETT: We are back with the breaking news out of Minneapolis, where federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old man today. Law enforcement sources identifying him as Minneapolis resident Alex Prettu. Sources telling CNN he was an ICU nurse at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Joining me now, Congressman James Walkinshaw. He sits on the Homeland Security and Oversight Committees. And he just got back from Minnesota and a congressional field hearing also about the shooting death of Renee Good that was just in these past few days here.

So, Congressman, I appreciate your time. You know, you were in that hearing. You've been on the ground. This is now a horrible tragedy today. Is it something that you felt was inevitable?

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): It didn't have to be inevitable. After Renee Good was killed, I did say the way that the Trump administration responded by declaring her falsely to be a domestic terrorist by falsely claiming that federal agents have absolute immunity. I did say that that kind of rhetoric would lead to more death and more killing. And unfortunately, that's what's happened.

I mean, look, Donald Trump has said he wants to go after the, quote, "enemy within" and his enemies in his mind are anyone who won't bend the knee to him. Democrats, protesters, people he doesn't like. And today we saw one of them shot dead in the streets of Minnesota.

BURNETT: I don't know how many of the videos you've had a chance to see. That we've shown a few. But from what you have seen today, what do you make of the DHS saying that this was a self-defense by the officer?

WALKINSHAW: I've seen, I think, all of the videos that are available, and it's a baldfaced lie. I mean, Greg Bovino stood before the American people and with a straight face lied through his teeth. There wasn't a firearm being brandished. There wasn't a threat to the officers. It's just -- it's just a lie.

Alex Pretti was holding a cell phone. He was attempting to aid a woman who was being roughed up by these agents. He wasn't threatening anyone with a gun. He wasn't threatening anyone. And he was shot dead while he was on his knees. So Greg Bovino, he's a lunatic and he's a liar, as is most of the Trump administration leadership.

BURNETT: So as you see protesters taking to the streets over this latest shooting, you know that Governor Tim Walz has now deployed the Minnesota National Guard. What is your message to people in Minnesota who want to protest, who are hurt, who are angry, who are outraged, who are all of the above? What do you say to them about what they should do?

WALKINSHAW: Well, when I was in Minnesota last week and I spoke directly to Minnesotans and I praised them for their patriotism. They, the Minnesotans who are engaged in peaceful protests, who are peacefully observing and recording the brutality that's taking place, the crimes that are being committed, the violations of civil and constitutional rights, those folks who are engaged in that constitutionally protected work are true American patriots.

And history will remember them for it. So I want them to continue to do that, to do that peacefully. But history has to know what's taking place in Minnesota and those Minnesotans who are peacefully engaged in observing and recording this terrible, terrible episode are doing great service to our republic.

BURNETT: But, Congressman, when you talk to your friends and I hope in this environment you do have friends in Congress who are Republicans, right, that that you would have relationships that go beyond that. And these are these are difficult times. But when you talk to them, what do they say? Do they share your views on some of this, or do they currently buy into everything the administration is saying? So, when DHS says domestic terrorists, they say, yes, sir.

[19:30:31]

WALKINSHAW: I'll be totally honest with you in the House. I think there are two categories. The biggest category are folks who, you know, at this point they are so connected to and wedded to Trump and Trumpism and MAGA that I just don't think they can see reality anymore. That's the largest chunk of Republicans in Congress.

There is a smaller group who, you know, maintain the ability to have an independent thought and think a critical thought of Donald Trump. They tend to find the courage to speak out publicly after they decide that they're retiring from Congress and not running for reelection.

BURNETT: Well, we have seen some of that. So, you know, what do you think, Congressman, happens from here? I'm just looking at the precedent here. Unfortunately, there is a precedent because this is not the first person who has been shot. And when we look at what happened to, you know, Renee Nicole Good the initial investigation was into her, not the ICE agent, Jonathan Ross. And they said that they're not doing an investigation and that he's in the clear.

So, do you think that there will be any investigation here? And is there anything anybody can do to ensure that there is one?

WALKINSHAW: There will not be a legitimate investigation conducted by the Trump administration. Look, they prevented local and state law enforcement from accessing the scene so that they can conduct a real investigation. They've taken the Department of Justice and the FBI out of it. We had one FBI agent who courageously was trying to move forward with an investigation of Renee Good's killing, who resigned because she was blocked from doing that work. There will not be a real investigation under the Trump administration.

However, President Trump won't be the President forever, and Republicans will not control Congress forever. And one of the messages that I and my 27 colleagues who were in Minnesota last week sent is that there will be accountability for those who are violating the law, for those who are killing American citizens, for those who are violating constitutional and civil rights, there will be accountability. It might not be today, it might not be next week, but it will come. There will be accountability for this.

BURNETT: Congressman James Walkinshaw, thank you very much. I appreciate your time on this Saturday night.

And I want to go back to Sara Sidner at the growing vigil that has sprung up for Alex Pretti and Sara. I know you're with someone who knows him.

SIDNER: Yes, Erin, we are standing at the growing memorial here. There have been prayers. There have been candles lit. As people are mourning the death of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was from this community, who is from Minneapolis and who came out to stand up against ICE ended up being killed by federal agents.

I am here now with Chris Gray. Thank you for joining us. You are a next-door neighbor. Can you tell me anything about Alex? What you know of him? And then I will ask you a few more questions about what DHS is saying about him. Who is Alex Pretti?

CHRIS GRAY, VICTIM'S NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR: Well, Alex was my neighbor. I remember Alex was walking his dog by my house, but then Alex said, I want the world to remember I was out on the streets yesterday with 50,000 people on general strike in a mass, nonviolent protest. He was an ICU nurse. He was a worker like myself. He was part of the fabric of my community, along with immigrants and many other people who represent our neighborhood and the people destroying our neighborhood are these ICE agents who are running around out of control, who have done nothing to make my life safer, done nothing to make my life better. This is not about crime. It is not about fraud.

SIDNER: Greg Bovino, one of the commanders with ICE, made these statements about Alex after he was killed by ICE agents, saying that he came here to massacre law enforcement agents. Does that match the person that you know, the neighbor that came over to your home when you had a house warming?

GRAY: This is the same Greg Bovino who is overseeing the massacre of my neighbors who drove around my neighborhood throwing tear gas with a motorcade and then ran for cover when people nonviolently disrupted him. Everything they say about my neighbors is a lie.

These are ordinary people who are trying to keep their neighborhood together and to stay whole. And that's why I think the next step is to have a mass nonviolent march. We need another general strike to shut down the flow of profits to Trump and his billionaire allies, because that's what it's going to take to win.

SIDNER: When you talk about Alex, there is a whole apparatus here, right, where people text each other and they tell each other what's going on, and they use whistles. If they see ICE in the neighborhood. Was he part of that? Was he here because he wanted to protest and ask ICE to leave the community?

[19:35:11]

GRAY: At this point, everyone is a part of that. Everyone has a whistle and every shop there's a Know Your Rights training. The whole community is standing together against this occupation of ICE, which is part of a divide and rule tactic that the Trump regime is pushing on us because they have no answers for the real issues that working class people face.

My health care bills will not go down because these deportations, I won't get a job because these deportations, my life will not improve, and it doesn't make my life any better. This is about divide and rule and about terrorizing people. And that's what this occupation is about. And that's what Alex was fighting for, by taking film of someone getting abducted. And that's what they killed him for. And that's why I think, Alex, I want people to remember, was part of a mass, nonviolent community resistance and we need to do that again, but this time we need to make it bigger and stronger until they leave. And they don't just leave Minneapolis, but they leave everywhere. I don't want them to go from my city to some other city. I want this to end forever.

SIDNER: Chris, I thank you so much for taking the time.

GRAY: Thank you.

SIDNER: I know it's freezing out here. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us.

GRAY: Yes, thank you.

SIDNER: We do appreciate it. So, you hear there from a next-door neighbor who says he was a part of the protest. He was protesting peacefully. A day ago, he said he came here to stop ICE from doing their business or to try to help people who are being trying to be detained by ICE. There is just a lot of sorrow here, really, a lot of sorrow, frustration and anger.

But you heard there, if more agents come, if the administration, the Trump administration decides to send in more federal agents, this place is going to blow. It has already, you're already seeing what happened after three ICE shootings in less than a month, two of them fatal. The more agents, the more trouble. That's what the message is here -- Erin.

BURNETT: Sara, thank you. And as we follow the breaking news from Minneapolis tonight, were just getting in a statement from the family of Alex Pretti. We'll be back with that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:29]

BURNETT: The breaking news, we're getting some brand-new video in from Minneapolis after federal agents shot and killed an American citizen. DHS says a 37-year-old man had a gun and violently resisted officers when they tried to disarm him. Let's play this here and show this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(PEOPLE blowing whistles)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh!

(PEOPLE blowing whistles)

(CARS honking)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the fuck is wrong with you? (PEOPLE blowing whistles)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the fuck, people? What the fuck is wrong with you? Honestly?

(PEOPLE blowing whistles)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right, when you hear that pop at the end, that's a shot. Shimon Prokupecz is with me, our chief crime and justice correspondent.

So, Shimon, this is the lead up to it. And while people are upset, it's certainly not in some incredibly tense moment. But all of a sudden, ICE is there that a woman gets pushed over. I guess you see Alex in there and it goes from that to pop and the shooting.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So, it seems that Alex is trying to help her, right? That's what it seems. He's there. He's got his phone out. And he approaches and one of the federal law enforcement officials pushes her. And then it seems that Alex is trying to get in between that, and then he's at some point taken to the ground. But you also see, which I didn't -- I saw this video earlier, but I didn't see they pepper spray him too.

BURNETT: That's what it looks like, yes.

PROKUPECZ: It looks like one of the federal law enforcement officers there is holding those cans those large cans that we've been seeing and are pepper spraying him, and then he goes to the ground and then you see a number of those officers just surround him, holding him down on the ground, probably trying to grab his arm to arrest him. But I'm sure at this point he's also dealing with pepper spray and being disoriented. What's not clear here is why they fired.

BURNETT: Well, there's nothing. I mean, just to be -- look, there's many angles, all which do seem to -- we assimilate what we're looking at here, right? But from this angle, I think it's very fair to say there's nothing anybody would look at here that would make it look like that needed to escalate as it did.

PROKUPECZ: And that's the most important point that you make there. Why did it escalate as it did? What happens -- at one point his hands are up, right.

And remember what Kristi Noem said and what Greg Bovino, who's the head of Border Patrol that's out there, that this person was wishing to do harm on law enforcement using words like maximum danger to kill law enforcement? Is that in any way apparent there? Did this individual approach law enforcement with his weapon out, trying to fire at them? We don't see any of that.

And on two occasions today we had Department of Homeland Security officials giving press conferences. And in both of those occasions, Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem refused to answer the question. Did Alex brandish this gun? Did he point his gun at anyone?

[19:45:15]

BURNETT: We certainly don't see that in any of the videos.

PROKUPECZ: We don't and so what is the justification here for the actions by these officers? Look, I mean, you could see him there. Does that look like an individual who's approaching to --

BURNETT: So, while you're here, Shimon, you know, Ed Davis, former Boston Police Commissioner, is also with us. And, Ed, I think you're able to see this as well. This is a new video from when you and I were speaking just a few moments ago. But it really does not show anything other than all the whistles. I'll let everyone know as well, those are the kind of everyone warning that ICE is there, right? So, warning people of ICE, the ICE whistle. So, that's what you're hearing with all that whistle.

But there's nothing here that would show from this video anything that would end the way this ended. Is there?

DAVIS: No, I don't see anything at all, Erin, and I agree with Shimon's observation here. DHS is speaking of this in terms of a crazed maniac who wants to kill as many police officers as he can. He was literally standing behind two ICE agents with his camera out, and that's all he was doing, he was videotaping. He had a gun, apparently, but he wasn't pulling the gun. He wasn't trying to kill police officers.

He literally is directing traffic here. He's trying to get a car to go by. I mean, the rhetoric does not fit what we're seeing on the video. Is it possible that his gun fell out or was some did he brandish it? We don't know. On, you know, as to what happened on the ground without a much clearer analysis of the video. But this over-the-top rhetoric just doesn't fit the circumstances.

PROKUPECZ: But the gun is gone, right? You see, like at one point what happens, we see there's an officer who's pulling the weapon, appears to pull the gun out, right. The gun is out of ...

BURNETT: Right, I guess he's pushed over and falls. Maybe they see it or it falls out or who knows, right, but that appears to be when its visible, not because he pulls it out.

PROKUPECZ: Right, but the other thing is, like, we don't know. The gun is then taken and put in a car. Like, the thing is, this crime scene has been completely tainted now, right? They have the gun, which can answer a lot of questions, and they now put the gun in the car and the gun is sitting in a car. They take a photo of the gun.

BURNETT: They take a photo telling everybody that because the extra magazines, this is proof that he was out to kill a whole lot of police officers.

PROKUPECZ: Well, they assumed if they put out the gun that it would somehow deescalate the situation without really explaining everything to us and they still haven't explained everything to us. But at what point does it have to escalate where --

BURNETT: That's the image they put out?

PROKUPECZ: Yes, that's the image that I have never seen anything like this before in a shooting investigation. A gun is just sitting on the on the clearly a law enforcement official put this in the car.

BURNETT: Well, picked it up and moved kit.

PROKUPECZ: Picked it up and moved it and put it in the car, quickly took a photo, sent it to DHS headquarters and said here the guy had a gun. Okay, but then we learn from not from the Department of Homeland Security, from Chief O'Hara, from the Minneapolis Police Department who was the first person to go on the record and speak to try to calm things down, that at that time, all they knew because no one was sharing information with them, is that he was a 37-year-old man who had the right to possess this weapon. That's what he was putting out there almost instantly after this happened.

BURNETT: Commissioner Davis, you know, that that context obviously is so crucial because, you know, when you hear that pop, one thing that we didn't see in this video or in any other video was any brandishing of the weapon, any brandishing at all, right.

And given that the first thing that Chief O'Hara said was that he had a right to carry it on, concealed, permit, right, concealed carry permit, if it was in his belt or whatever, he was going to do what? DHS says he was going to do, which is some dastardly plot to assassinate multiple ICE agents, he had a lot of opportunity to do so, and he did not do it.

DAVIS: Exactly and, you know, if someone in that scrum yelled out the word "gun," that's time to be very, very cautious. But it doesn't give you the right to kill someone. It, you know, there are guns out in the community everywhere. And we come across them all the time. And a lot of times nothing happens.

And so, there was a very aggressive ICE officer there that pushed the woman to the ground. He was the first one to spray. He was dragging this kid down. It seemed as though he was all amped up. And you have to really look closely at the mentality and psychology of the people involved here. Somebody like that is prone to do something off policy, and those are the things that the investigation should be looking at right now.

[19:50:16]

BURNETT: And I'll say, John Miller, obviously we don't know at this point whether there was just one officer that shot all those shots, multiple officers, whether it was that officer, we don't know because they're not releasing any of that and, you know, so far said there's no need to release any of it because this guy had this dastardly plan and this was self-defense and that's all there is to see here.

John, when you look at this new video, which really does show the lead up to it, the push, all of it, actually, because of the perspective, the best that I've seen it so far, at least. What stands out to you?

MILLER: Well, this video tells us a lot of the story that we didn't get through the window of the donut shop across the street. Now, we are looking at it from the angle of the sidewalk, where we can see a lot more of how it started right there when the woman is pushed to the ground, he engages the agent. The agent is spraying him directly.

And now, as you go from here to where he ends up on the ground, there's a moment coming up where you can see an agent on the right who appears right there to pull out a pistol and move away.

At the same time, you see an agent on the left take a pistol out of his holster, and then somewhere in there, there is the shot. And part of the problem, and Shimon brought this up, is maintaining that crime scene. Where did they get that gun? Where did that gun land?

Moving it to the car is not procedure. But when you're in a dynamic crowd situation and you may lose control of that crime scene, where there's people gathering and somebody may pick up that gun, it may disappear. There have been cases before, and I've seen them where somebody makes a command decision, let's move this off the set and secure it somewhere safe so that the gun doesn't disappear, because it's going to mean a lot, that it was there.

BURNETT: Shimon, can you tell, I guess as we end, it's hard, I don't want to put you on the spot. Are we able to tell the officer who pulls his own gun, right, separate? Who is a different officer than the officer who takes the gun off Mr. Pretti? Okay, that's important, but the officer that pulls his own gun, are we able to tell if that's the same officer that pushes the woman so quickly and does the tear gas, or can we not tell?

PROKUPECZ: But the other thing that raises the question, why are they even, why is he even pulling his gun out in this kind of a situation, right? Like they are very quick, I will say to you, because I have witnessed this, I have seen video of this. They are very quick to pull out their guns and put them and threaten people with it.

But the Border Patrol, some of their agents. I covered a story in Illinois, in Evanston. It was a group of protesters, and they were yelling. And in the face of these Border Patrol, these were moms and these are dads, and they were just fighting against this, arguing with them. And they got close and the Border Patrol agents said, move back and he pulled his gun out like he was going to shoot them.

And they backed up, but they couldn't believe to see something like that, to see a Border Patrol behave like that.

BURNETT: Behave like that.

PROKUPECZ: Any other Police Department, if anyone in any Police Department behaved that way, they would be fired, ask any police chief.

BURNETT: Commissioner, is that the case? DAVIS: Absolutely, we're watching for that type of activity all the

time. You don't pull your weapon out unless you're ready to use it. There should be some threat that appears to you before you do that.

So, and it's not that someone's protesting and you want them to back up. There are different ways to handle that. You don't stick a gun in somebody's face. That amps up and elevates the danger and frankly, the gun gets in the way sometimes.

Like if you're in a struggle with somebody having a gun in one of your hands doesn't help you. It actually hurts you.

So, it's not good practice and that's what we're seeing over and over again here. Inexperienced people trying to do the job of a police officer.

BURNETT: I mean, you know, John, I'm just thinking, you know, when and, Shimon, you know, we were both in L.A. when there were all those mass crowds and there were, you know, some in the crowd who were throwing things and the in that case, mostly LAPD, right?

There was incredible professionalism right there holding their batons. They had their ways of doing crowd control. There were times that they felt a lot of pressure. There was certainly a lot of tension, but I never saw any of them pull a weapon like that and threaten somebody. That's not something you see in a movie. That's not something that you actually see in real life with a Police Department.

[19:55:03]

PROKUPECZ: The issue is in John and Commissioner Davis could talk about this. These individuals are not trained for this kind of environment. I don't care what Kristi Noem says.

Every law enforcement official will say this to all the ones that have spoken publicly over concerns with their tactics will say to you that they are not trained for these kinds of environments. The protesters have gotten under their skin and have irritated them. And this is how they have been reacting to them with such force and just indiscriminately with the tear gas and pepper balls and the flashbangs.

And then Kristi Noem will stand and she will tell us that they are responding according to their training. And so, then you have to question their training.

BURNETT: Well, we do. All right, all stay with us, please, John Miller, Ed Davis, Shimon Prokupecz.

much more on our breaking news after this brief break.

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