Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Man Shot & Killed By Fed Agents In Minneapolis; DHS Says Man Was Armed; Winter Storm Intensifies, Expanding From South To Northeast. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired January 25, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:25]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and thank you. I'm Victor Blackwell in Atlanta, and we're following two major stories this hour. First, that monster winter storm that's plowing through much of the United States. It is bringing snow and ice, record cold. It's also causing blackouts across large areas. We'll have more on that in a moment.

But we're starting with the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. And public anger, it's growing in Minnesota. Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents during a protest on Saturday. He was an intensive care nurse at a veterans hospital.

His family says that in the moments before he was killed, Pretti was trying to protect a woman who had been pushed down by ICE agents, and then he was pepper sprayed. CNN has examined a video of the deadly encounter. A warning for you now. It is graphic. It is disturbing. The video shows federal agents wrestling Pretti to the ground. At least one agent appears to kick him. Later in the video, federal agents fired at least 10 shots.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security says officers took this handgun. Let's show it to you now from Pretti. They accused him of threatening federal agents. Here's what Krisit Noem, the Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently, fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, at no point in any of the videos reviewed by CNN, can Pretti be seen wielding, brandishing the handgun? And Minneapolis police say he was a lawful gun owner with a permit. Now, in that statement, Pretti's family condemned what they say are

the sickening lies being told about their son by the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, a federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order that blocks federal agencies from destroying or altering evidence related to the shooting. And that includes evidence allegedly already removed from the scene or taken into exclusive federal custody. Minnesota officials requested the order after suing the Trump administration Saturday.

Governor Tim Walz says that video disproves the Trump administration's, as he calls it, nonsense and lies about how that shooting happened. And Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, he's urging federal agents to leave the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA MAYOR: How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end? How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Anchor and senior U.S. correspondent Sara Sidner is in Minneapolis. She has a closer look for us now at what led up to the shooting and also how people in Minnesota are responding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR 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, a 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're 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 police -- 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 warlike situations at 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. It is multicultural. There are all kinds of different wonderful restaurants here. Turned into this morning a war zone.

[05:05:04]

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 an 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 were seeing on video and what you were hearing from witnesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino accused Alex Pretti of trying to, quote, "massacre law enforcement." He also criticized Minnesota's officials, their response to the incident. Here's what he told reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY BOVINO, BORDER PATROL CHIEF: We will not allow violence against our law enforcement officers. And we need state and local help. State and local law enforcement to help us coordinate to get violent criminals off the streets.

Mayor Frey and Chief O'Hara just a few minutes ago did the opposite of that by omitting the fact that the suspect had a gun and magazines full of ammunition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's bring it down. CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Charles Ramsey, he's the former chief of the police for Washington, D.C., former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department.

Chief, good to see you again. Let me ask you here. While we're right on the heels of Greg Bovino, he said, quote, "this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement. Now, we've covered over the hours since the shooting that there's no evidence in the video or otherwise yet to support that. But what would it take typically to reach that through the investigation, not just hours after the event?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It would take a lot more than what you see in the video, quite frankly. And I've watched the video. In fact, the different angles, three different videos. That was not a justified shooting, in my opinion. I have reviewed hundreds of officer involved shootings over my 17-year period of time that I've spent as a police chief in either Washington or Philadelphia.

You know, there are times when an officer is obviously justified in the use of deadly force. This is not one of those cases. The fact that he's armed, they keep raising that particular issue. And even though he had a license to carry, even if he did not, the mere fact that you have a gun on your person is not justification to shoot you. It's what you're doing with the gun that is the determining factor that an officer has to observe the person, you know, threatening someone else or -- or that officer with that firearm. There's no indication he was brandishing a firearm, no indication that at any time did he threaten anyone with a firearm.

So, the statements made by Bovino and Kristi Noem are just not consistent with what you see.

BLACKWELL: So, let's talk about the gun that was in Pretti's possession. According to law enforcement, they've released a picture of the gun that they said. I don't know that there's anyone that's questioning that he had that weapon.

But there is a moment at which one of the officers says he has a gun and then one officer pulls it away. According to CNN analysis, that gun is out of his possession about a second before the first of at least 10 shots are fired. What is the training? Because there are obviously questions about training. Once that gun is out of a pretty's possession, is that officer supposed to say, I have the gun? He's been disarmed. What is he supposed to do?

RAMSEY: Yeah, when you're in a situation where you're -- you've got a person that you're taking into custody and you -- you pat them down or in this case, they're struggling on the street and you feel what you believe to be a firearm, you would yell gun. Once that gun is no longer a threat because you've removed it, then you say that either you retrieved it or it's been removed. You would make that statement as well.

So, other officers would know. Part of the problem here is the way in which they swarm the individual, you know, any more than two or three officers trying to get control of a suspect on the ground. And he was definitely resisting. No question about that. But how many people does it take to really get a person under control? If you have too many people there, you get in each other's way, quite frankly.

[05:10:11] And you also have a situation where you can give commands that contradict one another. One person saying, put your hands behind your back. The other one saying, don't move. I mean, those are the kinds of things that really happen during situations like that. If there's a gun, you yell gun. But once that gun is no longer a threat, then you should also declare that as well.

I don't know if they did that or not. Obviously, they probably did not, no doubt, probably yelled gun. But I don't think they said anything about gun being removed.

BLACKWELL: There's also in the question about guns, and I'm not the first to ask this question. Why was a gun drawn by at least one of the officers as they were trying to subdue Pretti? I mean, he wasn't brandishing a gun. He wasn't presenting a lethal threat at that time. What questions do you have about even the presentation of a gun by one of these -- these federal agents?

RAMSEY: Well, that's poor training. If you are the one that's engaged in the actual struggle, you would not be drawing your gun unless you absolutely no question about it had to defend yourself. You know, you can't do two things at one time. And that's where you can have an accidental discharge during that period of time.

If someone is going to cover, then they would not be the one engaged in the actual struggle. They would be standing back, keeping an eye on things. And maybe they would have theirs at a ready position, depending on the circumstances. Again, it's not automatic. None of this is automatic.

You don't pull your gun unless you have justification to use it, quite frankly. So, this is just the training that they're getting. And I don't know how many years on the job this person has. But the -- the environment that they're in right now is one where these kinds of things can happen. You've got the leadership pretty much sending a message that whatever you do is OK, we got your back. You know, and once you give police officers or federal agents, you know, the idea that anything goes, you can't do that.

And believe me, they're not going to be able to stop this on a dime. They just don't. They just aren't. It's OK to profile. For example, it's OK to kick a door in without a judicial warrant. It's OK to shoot somebody. Don't worry about it. You know, we'll write it up and we'll declare it justified before we even have an investigation. That is very dangerous. It's wrong. And it's not just the officers in the field. It's the leadership that has to be held accountable. This is just not going to get better on its own.

BLACKWELL: And let me pull that thread about the messaging, because about three weeks ago now, right after the shooting death of Renee Good, what we heard from Secretary Noem was there were federal agents who were trying to dig their car out of snow. And then she said that Good approached them or tried to attack them with her vehicle using as a weapon. That is nowhere in the video.

And we've seen video minutes before the shooting. Now, we hear this story about officers who saw the gun and then in fear for their lives, fired defensive shots. As the administration is saying, the chronology of the video challenges that the message you talk about to the law enforcement. What's the message to the community there in Minnesota that you're hearing? What do they get out of what these statements that aren't supported by evidence from DHS?

RAMSEY: Well, what the community gets is the fact that they can't be trusted. I mean, people aren't stupid. I mean, you know, you're looking at this and then you're hearing a narrative from someone who wasn't there, by the way.

You know, and you say, wait a minute. Nobody was stuck in the snow. That's not the way that happened. This person wasn't brandishing a firearm with the intent to slaughter several police officers. That's not what I'm seeing. So, the message is they have -- that they're lying. They have no credibility, zero credibility.

So, why would you believe the outcome of the investigation? That's the problem. You can conduct an investigation and not every officer in ICE or Border Patrol is bad. Believe me, but there is a group of people that should not be on the street. There's leadership there that should not be in place. They have no control over what's going on out there at all.

This is a very, very volatile situation and it's not going to get any better. They've got to pull back and start trying to deescalate. And one last thing about their training --

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

RAMSEY: -- just to show you what the training is. If you saw the film yesterday when they were throwing gas, I mean, it was around 12:30 Central Time that they threw gas. One of the first things you do in your training, if you're going to throw gas, which I'm not a big believer of anyway, what you're watching is the wind going.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

RAMSEY: They were gassing themselves. The wind was coming right back at them. It's absolutely crazy what's going on, on the street out there.

[05:15:04]

BLACKWELL: Chief Charles Ramsey, I thank you for your analysis. We'll check back with you later this morning.

Still to come later this hour, we'll bring you an update on the growing unrest in Minneapolis, the fallout from that shooting.

Plus, of course, we're tracking that crippling winter storm in the U.S. We'll show you where the heaviest snow and ICE are right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: A monster winter storm is intensifying as it's sweeping across the U.S. It is bringing heavy snow and crippling ice from the southwest to the east coast. New Mexico and Colorado already have more than a foot of snow.

Close to 300,000 homes and businesses have lost power as the freezing temperatures set in. That's according to the latest update from poweroutage.us.

We're getting reports of at least 11 storm-related injuries in Oklahoma. The National Guard and Highway Patrol teams have rescued at least 13 stranded drivers since the start of the storm. Video out of Arkansas shows just how intense the storm is getting. Cars are sliding off the roads.

The state's Department of Transportation says that all roads in Arkansas are showing winter weather impacts. And the officials in the south are urging people to just stay off of the roads.

[05:20:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH STEIN, NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: This is a serious storm. We are taking it seriously, and so should you.

HENRY MCMASTER, SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: With this ice storm, it's going to be cold. It's liable to have all the power lines in the affected areas be down. The ice will either bring the lines down or bring the tree limbs down on the lines. And you may be without electricity for maybe four days or maybe longer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the latest forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm in Louisville, Kentucky, where a multifaceted blockbuster of a winter storm is unfolding before our very eyes. The snow is starting to accumulate on the roadways here. It's expected to pick up an intensity we could get easily over a foot of snow, which will rival some of the largest snowfalls in this city's history.

This is a multifaceted winter storm, meaning that we've got snow on the cold side, the northern periphery of this storm that stretches nearly 2,000 miles from south Texas all the way to New England. But we have the potential for a crippling, if not debilitating ice storm that will evolve across the southern plains and into the Tennessee River Valley, into the southeastern portions of the U.S., particularly across the Appalachians and into the southern Piedmont.

These areas could pick up easily over a half to a three quarters of an inch of ice, which becomes extremely dangerous and not to mention the brutal Arctic air that will settle in behind this cold front once it finally passes, has the potential to bring down tree limbs and power lines and allowing for that frozen precipitation to stay frozen, only exacerbating and elongating the impacts from this massive winter storm.

All right, the scene is set here and we are preparing for several inches of snow in Louisville, but elsewhere, especially across central portions of Kentucky. A state of emergency with winter storm warnings. Over 80 warming shelters that have been opened up ahead of this storm are all in place as residents here brace for the worst.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Derek, thank you.

New York has mobilized a massive response to the storm, but sadly, it may have already claimed three lives. Three people were found dead in the city on Saturday morning as temperatures dropped below freezing. The mayor activated a code blue on Thursday that requires social service programs to take in homeless people and provide shelter during these low temperatures.

Meanwhile, the city's transportation authority has warned commuters to stay off the roads and avoid unnecessary travel until Monday. Mayor Zohran Mamdani assured people in New York that the city is in the place of the largest snow fighting operation in the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: This will not just be snow. This storm will also bring with it intense cold, a prolonged period of frigid temperatures that will last through the next week. Frankly, it will be colder than any sustained period that New York has experienced in about eight years. But New York, whatever comes for it, this city is ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: With me now, Nolan Skipper, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works in Buffalo, New York.

Nolan, thank you for being with me. Give me an idea of what conditions are there now.

NOLAN SKIPPER, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS IN BUFFALO, NEW YORK (on the phone): Hey, thanks for having me. Right now, we're just dealing with some light drizzle. The snow hasn't really started yet. It's on the way, though. It's a couple hours away from the city of Buffalo and we're prepared.

BLACKWELL: And so, talk to me about preparations. What have you staged? What are you getting in place for when this storm comes?

SKIPPER: Yeah, so we started a couple of days ago. We went through our pre-event checklist internally in our Department of Public Works. We met as a whole city, internal leadership. And then we did our coordination calls with our partners, New York State DOT, Erie County, just kind of gearing everyone up, getting the mindset ready to go. And then in terms of pieces and coordination, we're expected to have about 150 plus pieces of snow fighting equipment on the street for this storm.

BLACKWELL: So, I've been talking over the past couple of days with mayors in the south and they're, of course, not used to ice storms and snow to this degree. Buffalo, though, is used to snow. Why is this storm different and what are you expecting at its worst?

SKIPPER: This one's a little bit different because it's not our usual lake effect in Buffalo. Last week we dealt with our lake effect, which can come through and leave three, four inches behind it in a couple hours. This one's a little bit different because it's more of a regional level storm.

So, we're planning for about 12 to 18 inches in the city. And that's across the city as a whole, not just a section of the city, but a city as a whole. So, a little bit different. We're used to our lake effect snow. This one's more regional widespread effort. So, it's impacting the whole region.

[05:25:04]

BLACKWELL: And so, you talked about you had the lake effect last week. I looked at a report from one of the affiliates there and you already have snow on the ground. Is that right? And does that exacerbate the challenges for you?

SKIPPER: Yeah, we've had snow on the ground for a couple months now. Last week and the week before left about two or three feet in some locations. The city has about a foot on the ground in some of our locations over the past couple of weeks.

So, the big thing is pre-planning, making sure the streets are clean ahead of this storm. So, we're not just dumping more snow on the streets. So, we did quite a good effort over the past couple of weeks to get our streets ready, our residents able to safely move around.

BLACKWELL: Close to 300,000 customers in Texas, Louisiana, other states across the south already without power. What are your expectations for power outages? And are those utility trucks anywhere nearby to attack that once it's safe to get back to restore those lines?

SKIPPER: Yeah, we've already been in contact with our partners at National Grid here in Buffalo. This isn't our first go around. Obviously, we've had a couple bad storms in the last five years. So, we've been working with them. They're prepared. We're prepared.

Luckily, in this one, we're not expecting the heavy winds. Our trees, our power lines are kind of used to the cold weather here. So, a lot of our infrastructure should be able to hold up to this storm.

BLACKWELL: And talk to me about what this code blue means, what this state of emergency that Governor Hochul has declared, what that means for you and your communications with the state. SKIPPER: Yeah, and it's a big thank you to the governor, too, for that, because it just unlocks those resources if we need them. With code blue, we'll have those for residents that need to seek shelter. And then we do have a number of warming centers in the city, specifically nine warming centers in our nine council districts. If we need to turn those on as well, we can activate those warming centers.

BLACKWELL: All right. Nolan Skipper with Buffalo. They've got snow on the ground, as you say. They've had it for months. But this is a little different. 12 to 18 inches on the way. Thank you for your time. I know you're a busy man. I'll let you get to it.

The storm is creating misery for air travel, flight cancellations. The numbers are soaring. FlightAware tracking the site there says that more than 4,000 U.S. flights were canceled on Saturday. Sunday is already the worst day for cancellations in the past year, with close to 10,000. Last day to have the most cancellations was November 9th, with 1,900 during the government shutdown.

Tensions are high in Minneapolis after a second deadly shooting by immigration agents this month.

Still ahead, a CNN analysis of the incident that appears to contradict the official version from the federal government of what happened.

Plus, an update on the fallout across Capitol Hill as ICE's actions in Minnesota prompt a funding battle now in the Senate and future House committee hearing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:21]

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Let's check some of your top stories now. First, that crippling winter storm moving across the U.S. is dumping more than a foot of snow in some areas. Forecasters warn that dangerous ice will continue to accumulate, bringing down trees. And those trees then bring down power lines. We're already getting reports of several power outages, hundreds of thousands of them, and impassable road conditions.

Federal immigration agents have shot and killed Alex Pretti. He's a 37-year-old intensive care nurse. This happened during a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Trump administration officials say that he was violently resisting being disarmed, but state officials and the video, they dispute that narrative. Witnesses say Pretti was helping a woman who had been shoved to the ground by ICE officials and had done nothing to threaten federal officers.

A federal judge has now granted a temporary restraining order that blocks federal officials from destroying or altering evidence related to that shooting. That includes evidence allegedly already removed from the scene. Minnesota officials requested the order after suing the Trump administration to protect evidence earlier Saturday. Things are quieter now in that neighborhood where Alex Pretti was

fatally shot. CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild has more from Minneapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: We are a couple of blocks away from where the shooting happened, and the scene here is very calm. We have seen only a handful of people who suggested that they were ready to go and visit a vigil that has formed at where this shooting happened, where we know Alex Pretti spent the last moments of his life.

What we are seeing is law enforcement vehicles from surrounding jurisdictions blocking off some of the areas so that vehicles cannot get anywhere near where that shooting happened. And then additionally, behind me, what you'll see is what we believe to be a National Guard vehicle. We know Governor Tim Walz has mobilized the National Guard. This is something that he talked about for several days and saying that he was prepared to deploy them but hadn't yet done it.

Now, we know after this third shooting in about as many weeks, now Governor Walz feels it is necessary to deploy the National Guard. Further, what we're hearing from local law enforcement here is that, to be frank, the rank-and-file officers who have been on the ground dealing with these protests for weeks now in Minneapolis are tired. They are run down. They have been doing much of their work in subzero weather over the last couple of days and they need a breather.

And so, local law enforcement here, other local officials really saying how necessary it is for additional resources from surrounding jurisdictions as well as the National Guard to help them out in these very difficult times.

Whitney Wild, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: CNN has analyzed several videos of Saturday's incident from several angles. And as Tom Foreman reports now, they raised questions about whether the shooting was a necessary self-defense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to start with the very first statement made by the Trump administration in the aftermath of the shooting. It was a tweet by the Department of Homeland Security showing a firearm on what appears to be the seat of a car. And the tweet reads, quote, "An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun seen here." You see the picture behind it there. "This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement."

Now, we have this new angle of the video that's just been cleared by CNN. And it shows the lead-up to this deadly altercation. This is what I want you to take a look at. Of course, this is a disturbing video. [05:35:00]

Let's take some time, though, and watch this together. Some things to note. As it begins, you see Pretti out there in the middle of the street. He shows up right in this area here. You start seeing him, and he is, at one point, using his camera. There he is, right there. And he's pointing to traffic, sort of waving traffic through.

At some moment here, you see that law enforcement approaches him, and he backs away as they start moving up on him. He is not trying to move toward them. He's backing away. Then you're going to see one of these officers approach a woman near him and really forcefully shove her to the ground, right there. And Pretty starts rushing over toward her.

Now, they're both getting pepper-sprayed at this point. He gets grabbed, and he's taken over to the ground here. I'll point out, this is about 15 seconds from when officers turned to him. He's now on the ground. They are on top of him. The officers are all around. He does not appear to have a weapon in his hand. He doesn't brandish anything. He doesn't seem to do anything.

And then, all of a sudden, you see one agent in the middle there. Look, he turns away, and that's when the shooting begins. One shot, followed by, in our analysis, nine other shots there.

We heard from Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, he was asked at what point Pretty brandished a weapon in all of this. This was his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOVINO: Ali, this -- this situation again is evolving. This -- this situation is under investigation. Those facts will come to light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: This is important because, an important detail, because concealed carry is legal. We know from local officials Pretty had a permit to carry a weapon. And law enforcement analysts here on CNN have raised questions as to why the picture of this gun that DHS shared online was shown on the seat of a car and not in the scene where Pretti was shot.

And we now have an answer. CNN analysis shows, if you watch all those videos carefully, you see a federal agent right there who appears to be removing a gun. This is very critical to remember. That piece of video you're seeing right there is happening about a second or maybe slightly less than a second before the shooting begins.

Now, it is just video. We have to look at it. There will be a lot of questions here. But that's the reason people say you have to have a truly impartial and fair investigation here. Because if he removed the gun before all this shooting broke out, then why is this man now dead?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, the White House quickly responded after the shooting in Minneapolis. This is from Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller. He wrote on X, "A domestic terrorist tried to assassinate federal law enforcement, and this is your response?"

President Trump took to "Truth Social," accusing Minnesota leadership of inciting insurrection. He suggested that state officials dissuaded local police from assisting ICE officers. There's no evidence of that.

The U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he voiced his support for ICE agents on X on Saturday. He wrote this, "We have your back 100 percent." Hegseth also blamed Minnesota officials and called protesters lunatics in the street. He ended the post with, "An ICE is greater than Minnesota tag."

Top state Democrats -- Senate Democrats, I should say, are threatening a partial government shutdown after the latest fatal shooting in Minneapolis. Minority leader Chuck Schumer posted this tweet criticizing ICE's actions. He also said that Democrats would not provide the votes to pass government appropriations if the Department of Homeland Security's funding bill was included.

Now, the Senate faces a deadline to pass the spending bill by Friday. Meanwhile, the House Homeland Security Committee has asked the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol and Citizenship and Immigration Services to appear before the committee to testify in the months ahead.

We also spoke with CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein about the likelihood that this fight in the Senate over DHS funding will force another government shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it is inconceivable at this point that Democrats would vote to fund ICE with no overview or conditions based on what's been happening and sort of inexplicable that Republicans would as well. I mean, what we are witnessing is the most pervasive application of violence by any governmental entity in the U.S. against its own citizens since the days of George Wallace and Lester Maddox and Bill Conner using fire hoses and dogs and nightsticks against the civil rights protesters in the South.

And, you know, the idea that someone can be summarily killed by government forces for carrying a weapon in public in a state where that is legal was once the -- you know, the greatest boogeyman raised by the right.

[05:40:07]

I mean, I remember in the 90s when the NRA talked about jackbooted government thugs who were threatening the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans. Tonight, the NRA basically blamed the killing on Minnesota officials.

So, what we are watching is, you know, as we've said before, you don't get an on-off switch that tells you when you've entered a different kind of America than the one you grew up in. But this is pretty close to that. And the idea that the funding would go forward without at least some serious debate about what we are watching unfold on the streets of Minneapolis and in other cities just seems to me implausible.

So, I know there are Democrats who feel that immigration is an issue on which they have gotten burned in the past, but it's hard to imagine that they can go forward after this second killing and not raise serious objections to what ICE is doing.

BLACKWELL: More on the reaction ahead. Minneapolis is not the only American city seeing protests over the aggressive immigration enforcement activities. We'll go to New York for a rally by a group called "Hands Off."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Across the U.S., demonstrators are protesting immigration crackdown with the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti bringing more outrage, more concern. We show you here the scenes from Denver to Washington, D.C. People held up placards and signs calling for ICE to be abolished and crowds gathered in Los Angeles where a candlelight vigil was held on Saturday.

Hands off NYC staged an emergency rally in Manhattan following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. A lot of people held signs and banners calling for a general strike in protest of the killing. In a statement, the group said that no one should be killed for protecting their neighbors.

[05:45:00]

CNN's Gloria Pazmino was at the march and she has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the hours since the shooting in Minneapolis, there are thousands of demonstrators who have taken to the streets here in New York City to protest ICE and to respond to what's happened in that city. And in comparison to what we are seeing in Minneapolis today, this demonstration for now remains peaceful.

They are walking on the street demonstrating, talking about asking to get ICE out of the cities. They specifically are saying that ICE should be abolished. Many of the signs here that demonstrators are carrying are calling specifically for that, getting ICE out of U.S. cities.

Now, we spoke to some people here today who said that they came out in protest to what they are seeing by this administration in response to what some people here say is the administration's targeting of democratically-led cities like Minneapolis. We spoke to some people who said that the actions of ICE in Minneapolis and in other cities around the country is what made them come out here today. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next person killed in Minneapolis, it's getting ridiculous. The overreaching of the federal government over immigrants and against human rights and the rights of U.S. citizens, it's just impossible. We can't put up with it any longer.

PAZMINO: Now, there are thousands of protesters that have come out to New York City streets in the hours since the shooting in Minneapolis, and many of them protesting ICE's presence across U.S. cities.

Ma'am, tell me what brought you out here today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here because we need to protect the innocent. We need to protect our citizens. We need to protect our immigrants. I am really concerned that ICE is becoming like a military police with no rules or regulations, no concern for the Constitution. I'm from Minneapolis originally, so I feel terrible.

PAZMINO: What's your reaction to what you saw happening in your hometown?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely horrendous, just horrendous, inexcusable.

PAZMINO: What do you want to see happen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to see those responsible held accountable. I want to see them in court. I want to see U.S. laws being followed, and I want the Constitution.

PAZMINO: So, that is the sentiment that we are hearing from demonstrators here today, a concern about the lack of accountability, a real desire for more accountability for ICE, for this agency that's been deployed across so many U.S. cities, but largely a message that they want ICE out of U.S. cities, that they want the federal administration to scale back what they are doing in Minneapolis right now and to get those agents and that federal law enforcement out of the cities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: CNN spoke with a Minneapolis City Council member about what her constituents are looking for after another fatal shooting in that city. Here's part of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AISHA CHUGHTAI, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: The one thing that -- that we want to see right now is for ICE to leave our communities. And, you know, I think that -- I that we want our -- our state and local officials, our state and local law enforcement to -- to step up and hold to account the people who murdered Alex Pretti this morning. And -- and I think that's -- that's the -- that's the type of leadership we're looking for from -- from our state leaders and our state law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Another big story, the breaking news, a potentially catastrophic winter storm that could affect millions of people. We're talking Texas all the way up to New England. Of course, we have more on that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:02]

BLACKWELL: This crippling winter storm moving across the U.S. could dump more than a foot of snow in some areas. I just spoke with an official from Buffalo, New York, expecting up to 18 inches there. Forecasters warn that dangerous ice will continue to accumulate and that will bring down trees. Those tree limbs will bring down power lines and leave thousands, hundreds of thousands, without power, some for days.

The weather system is due to bring record cold and more than half of all Americans are expected to experience sub-zero wind chills in the coming days. The storm has already created a travel nightmare.

Listen to this, nearly 15,000 flights have been canceled into Monday and that number is expected to grow. Let me take you to Dallas, Texas. Emergency crews responding to accidents on dangerous icy roads. The winter storm is slamming parts of Texas with snow and freezing rain.

Right now, more than 80,000 customers are in the dark after the power outages across that state. That number is reported by poweroutage.com.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has more from Dallas, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been a gloomy day across north Texas and Oklahoma as we've seen the first wave of this arctic storm make its way through. It came in mostly overnight and we've seen it kind of quiet, but forecasts show that there is another round of freezing rain and sleet that is going to continue to blow through this area.

And this is the way many of the roads across north Texas and into east Texas look as well. There are a number of power outages, of course, across the region as well, but these conditions are expected to worsen and continue staying like this for still some time. We are well below freezing now. The wind chill is even lower and this is going to last for some time.

It could be by early Tuesday morning before we see temperatures get above freezing, giving this a chance to melt away. So, it will be like this for some time. There's still some traffic out on the road since there hasn't been a lot of sleet and freezing rain coming down today, but the road you're looking at behind me is an overpass of one of the main highways here in Dallas and you really get a sense of just how treacherous the bridges are.

[05:55:17] We've talked a lot about that, about how it's -- the bridges and the roadways up high, that are the first to freeze and the most treacherous roadways for people to drive on. So, be very careful with all of that.

Road crews have been out doing the best they can with sand as well as putting down a mix of a brining mixture before all of this started coming through, but now it's just a matter of getting through the worst of this storm. Like I said, another round of rain -- freezing rain, sleet, maybe a little bit more slow coming to this region as well.

So, we are still, even though it's been relatively quiet in terms of what's been falling from the sky throughout this day on Saturday, there is still more to come and it will be rather treacherous for several more days.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And more households in the southern states are reporting power outages. In Arkansas, nearly 2,100 customers are without power, according to poweroutage.us. That's likely to get worse. Earlier, the Arkansas Director of Emergency Management talked with CNN about his biggest concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A.J. GARY, DIRECTOR, ARKANSAS DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Our biggest concern is -- will be the power outages. If we get a lot of freezing rain, that can bring tree limbs down and power lines down. So, we're really watching that really close. That's probably our biggest concern. Our electric utility companies have been doing a great job throughout the day. They're continuously out there fixing problems as they occur. So, they're doing a great job. We're just hoping that we can keep those numbers down. Next couple of days, temperatures are really going to drop. So, we want to make sure that our citizens are taken care of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, that wraps this hour of "CNN Newsroom." I'm Victor Blackwell, and I'll be back with more of our breaking news coverage on "CNN This Morning" weekend comes up after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)