MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In dueling news conferences, federal and state officials offered starkly different messages Sunday about the immigration crackdown that has swept across Minneapolis and surrounding cities, with both claiming the moral high ground after another shooting death by federal agents.

“Which side do you want to be on?" Gov. Tim Walz asked the public. "The side of an all-powerful federal government that could kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets, or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such government?” — a reference to Saturday's shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

In a federal office building about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino, the public face of the crackdown, again blamed the shooting on Pretti.

“When someone makes the choice to come into an active law enforcement scene, interfere, obstruct, delay or assault law enforcement officer and — and they bring a weapon to do that. That is a choice that that individual made,” he told reporters.

The competing comments emerged as local leaders and Democrats across the country demanded federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after Pretti's shooting, which set off clashes with protesters in a city already shaken by another shooting death weeks earlier.

Video contradicts administration statements

Video shot by bystanders and reviewed by The Associated Press appears to contradict statements by President Donald Trump’s administration, which said agents fired “defensively” against Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, as he approached them.

Pretti can be seen with only a phone in his hand as he steps between an immigration agent and a woman on the street. No footage appears to show him with a weapon. During the scuffle, agents appear to disarm him after discovering he is carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, and then open fire several times. Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.

In the hours after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti attacked officers, and Bovino said he wanted to “massacre law enforcement.”

Bovino was more restrained Sunday, saying he would not speculate about the shooting and that he planned to wait for the investigation.

Relatives say they are heartbroken

Pretti’s family said they were “heartbroken but also very angry” at authorities. Relatives were furious at federal officials’ description of the shooting.

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed,” the family statement said. “Please get the truth out about our son.”

A 2024 video posted to social media showed Pretti reading a salute for veteran Terrance Lee Randolph, who died at the VA hospital where Pretti worked.

“Today we remember that freedom is not free,” Pretti, wearing navy blue scrubs, says in the video. “We have to work for it, nurture it, protect it, and even sacrifice for it.”

Walz denounced as “despicable beyond all description” the comments that federal officials made about Pretti.

"And I would say, President Trump, you can end this today. Pull these folks back. Do humane, focused, effective immigration control,” he said.

The White House kept up its attacks on the governor, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt posting on X that Walz "does NOT believe in law and order” and accusing him of encouraging “left-wing agitators to stalk and record federal officers in the middle of lawful operations.”

At the federal news conference, Marcos Charles of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said one of their agents permanently lost a part of his finger when a protester bit it off Saturday in Minneapolis.

“This kind of violence is not a coincidence,” Charles said. “When sanctuary politicians, activists and the media work hard to create chaos and fear instead of using their platforms to reassure their communities, this is the result.”

Pretti was shot just over a mile from where an ICE officer killed 37-year-old Renee Good on Jan. 7, sparking widespread protests.

Federal officials, who are leading the investigation into the shooting, have thwarted local attempts to participate.

Drew Evans, superintendent of the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigates police shootings, told reporters Saturday that federal officers had blocked his agency from the scene of the shooting even after it obtained a signed judicial warrant. Bureau officers were working at the scene Sunday morning.

A federal judge has already issued an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to the shooting, after state and county officials sued.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the lawsuit filed Saturday is meant to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A hearing is scheduled for Monday in federal court in St. Paul.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the lawsuit, saying claims that the federal government would destroy evidence are “a ridiculous attempt to divide the American people and distract from the fact that our law enforcement officers were attacked — and their lives were threatened.”

The Minnesota National Guard temporarily assisted local police at Walz's direction, officials said, with troops sent to the shooting site and a federal building where officers have squared off daily with demonstrators.

But Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Sunday morning on CBS' "Face the Nation" that “it’s back to just the Minneapolis police responding to calls.”

No evidence that Pretti brandished gun

O'Hara said he had seen no evidence that Pretti brandished the pistol, and that the crackdown was exhausting his department.

“This is taking an enormous toll, trying to manage all this chaos on top of having to be the police department for a major city. It’s too much,” he said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was among several Democratic lawmakers demanding that federal immigration authorities leave Minnesota.

In a statement, former President Barack Obama called Pretti’s death a “heartbreaking tragedy” and warned that “many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”

Federal officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly questioned why Pretti was armed during the confrontation. But gun rights groups noted that it's legal to carry firearms during protests.

Video footage shows pushing and then shooting

When the Saturday confrontation began, bystander video shows protesters blowing whistles and shouting profanities at federal officers on a commercial street in south Minneapolis.

The videos show Pretti stepping in after an immigration officer shoves a woman. Pretti appears to be holding his phone toward the officer, but there's no sign he's holding a weapon.

The officer shoves Pretti in his chest and pepper sprays him and the woman.

Soon, at least seven officers force Pretti to the ground. Several officers try to bring his arms behind his back as he appears to resist. An officer holding a canister strikes him near his head several times.

A first shot is fired by a Border Patrol officer. There’s a slight pause, and then the same officer fires several more times into Pretti’s back. Multiple officers back off. Within seconds, Pretti is motionless on the street.

If Saturday was marked by clashes, with angry protesters blockading streets and agents firing canisters of tear gas, Sunday was marked by sadness.

Police cars with flashing lights have closed traffic to the block where the shooting occurred, and a constant flow of people came and went Sunday, gathering near the spot where Pretti was shot. There were 100 or so people at the scene Sunday night. Some sang, some prayed, some brought flowers or lit candles. TV news crews set up on the periphery of the crowd, and a man was giving away hand warmers with temperatures hovering just above 0 Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius).

Brett Williams, 37, came from the city's suburbs to attend a vigil there earlier Sunday.

“I stand in solidarity with a brother whose life was taken too soon,” he said. “He’s standing up for immigrants. We’re all immigrants.”

Republican calls are growing for a deeper investigation into the fatal Minneapolis shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — A growing number of Republicans are pressing for a deeper investigation into federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis, a sign that the Trump administration's accounting of events may face bipartisan scrutiny.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino sought testimony from leaders at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying “my top priority remains keeping Americans safe.”

A host of other congressional Republicans, including Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, pressed for more information. Their statements, in addition to concern expressed from several Republican governors, reflected a party struggling with how to respond to Saturday’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a VA hospital.

Trump administration officials were quick to cast Pretti as the instigator. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was among those who said Pretti “approached” immigration officers with a gun and acted violently. Videos from the scene show Pretti being pushed by an officer and then a half-dozen agents descend on him. During the scuffle, he is holding a phone but is never seen brandishing the 9mm semiautomatic handgun police say he was licensed to carry.

The killing has raised uncomfortable questions about the GOP's core positions on issues ranging from gun ownership to states' rights and trust in the federal government.

Cassidy, who is facing a Trump-backed challenger in his reelection bid, said on social media that the shooting was “incredibly disturbing” and that the “credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake.” He pushed for “a full joint federal and state investigation.” Tillis, who is not seeking reelection, urged a “thorough and impartial investigation” and said “any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump’s legacy.”

Murkowski called for an investigation and added that “ICE agents do not have carte blanche in carrying out their duties.” Collins, the only incumbent Republican senator facing reelection in a state Democrat Kamala Harris carried in 2024, said a probe is needed “to determine whether or not excessive force was used in a situation that may have been able to be diffused without violence.”

While calling for protesters to “keep space” from law enforcement and not interfere, Collins said federal law enforcement must "recognize both the public’s right to protest and the highly charged situation they now face.”

Even Sen. Pete Ricketts, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, called for a “prioritized, transparent investigation.”

“My support for funding ICE remains the same,” the Nebraska Republican, who is up for reelection, said online. “But we must also maintain our core values as a nation, including the right to protest and assemble.”

Trump and other administration officials remained firm in their defense of the hard-line immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis, blaming Democrats in the state along with local law enforcement for not working with them. Many Republicans either echoed that sentiment or stayed silent.

In a lengthy social media post on Sunday evening, Trump called on Minnesota's Democratic leadership to “formally cooperate” with his administration and pressed Congress to ban so-called sanctuary cities.

The White House will likely face at least some GOP pushback

Trump has enjoyed nearly complete loyalty from fellow Republicans during his first year back in the White House. But the positions staked out in the wake of the shooting signal the administration will face at least some pushback within the party in its swift effort to define Pretti, who protested Trump’s immigration crackdown, as a violent demonstrator.

Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller issued social media posts referencing an “assassin” and “domestic terrorist" while Noem said Pretti showed up to “impede a law enforcement operation.”

At a minimum, some Republicans are calling for a de-escalation in Minneapolis.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the shooting was a “real tragedy” and Trump needs to define an “end game.”

“Nobody likes the feds coming to their states,” Stitt said. “And so what is the goal right now? Is it to deport every single non-U.S. citizen? I don’t think that’s what Americans want.”

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said the shooting was “not acceptable.”

“At best, these federal immigration operations are a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices, training and leadership,” he said in a post. “At worst, it's deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens.”

Echoing criticism that local law enforcement isn’t cooperating with federal officials, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., suggested the administration focus its immigration efforts elsewhere.

“If I were President Trump, I would almost think about if the mayor and the governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm’s way and there’s a chance of losing more innocent lives or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide do we want to continue to have all these illegals?” he told “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel. “I think the people of Minnesota would rebel against their leadership.”

A sensitive moment for the GOP

Pretti's killing comes at a sensitive moment for the GOP as the party prepares for a challenging midterm election year. Trump has fomented a sense of chaos on the world stage, bringing the NATO alliance to the brink last week. Domestically, Trump has struggled to respond to widespread affordability concerns.

Meanwhile, approval of his handling of immigration — long a political asset for the president and the GOP — has tumbled. Just 38% of U.S. adults approved of how Trump was handling immigration in January, down from 49% in March, according to an AP-NORC poll.

The killing spurred notable tension with the GOP's long-standing support for gun rights. Officials say Pretti was armed, but no bystander videos that have surfaced so far appear to show him holding a weapon. The Minneapolis police chief said Pretti had a permit to carry a gun.

Yet administration officials, including Noem and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have questioned why he was armed. Speaking on ABC's “This Week" Bessent said that when he has attended protests, “I didn't bring a gun. I brought a billboard.”

Such comments were notable for a party where support for the Second Amendment's protection of gun ownership is foundational. Indeed, many in the GOP, including Trump, lifted Kyle Rittenhouse into prominence when the then-17-year-old former police youth cadet shot three men, killing two of them, during a 2020 protest in Wisconsin against police brutality. He was acquitted of all charges after testifying that he acted in self defense.

In the wake of Pretti's killing, gun rights advocates noted that it is legal to carry firearms during protests.

“Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms — including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights,” the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said in a statement. “These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed.”

In a social media post, the National Rifle Association said “responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who is often critical of the White House, said “carrying a firearm is not a death sentence.”

“It's a Constitutionally protected God-given right,” he said, "and if you don’t understand this you have no business in law enforcement or government.

The second-ranking Justice Department official said he was aware of reports that Pretti was lawfully armed.

“There’s nothing wrong with anybody lawfully carrying firearms,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “But just make no mistake about it, this was an incredibly split-second decision that had to be made by ICE officers.”

Videos of deadly Minneapolis shooting contradict government statements

Leaders of law enforcement organizations expressed alarm Sunday over the latest deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis while use-of-force experts criticized the Trump administration’s justification of the killing, saying bystander footage contradicted its narrative of what prompted it.

The federal government also faced criticism over the lack of a civil rights inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department and its efforts to block Minnesota authorities from conducting their own review of the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.

In a bid to ease tensions, the International Association of Chiefs of Police called on the White House to convene discussions “as soon as practicable” among federal, state and local law enforcement.

“Every police chief in the country is watching Minneapolis very carefully,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a police research and policy organization. “If a police chief had three officer-involved shootings in three weeks, they would be stepping back and asking, ‘What does our training look like? What does our policy look like?’”

Pretti’s death came on the heels of the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good and another incident a week later in Minneapolis when a federal officer shot a man in the leg after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle while attempting to arrest a Venezuelan who was in the country illegally.

“We’re dealing with a federal agency here,” Wexler said, referring to the Department of Homeland Security, “but its actions can have a ripple effect across the entire country.”

Experts say video of shooting undermines federal claims

While questions remained about the latest confrontation, use-of-force experts told The Associated Press that bystander video undermined federal authorities’ claim that Pretti “approached” a group of lawmen with a firearm and that a Border Patrol officer opened fire “defensively.” There has been no evidence made public, they said, that supports a claim by Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino that Pretti, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, intended to “massacre law enforcement.”

“It’s very baked into the culture of American policing to not criticize other law enforcement agencies,” said Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and use-of-force expert who testified for prosecutors in the trial of the Minneapolis officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.

“But behind the scenes, there is nothing but professional scorn for the way that DHS is handling the aftermath of these incidents,” Stoughton said.

Several government officials had essentially convicted Pretti on social media before the crime scene had been processed.

Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller generated outrage by describing Pretti as “a would-be assassin” in a post, while a top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, drew the ire of the National Rifle Association for posting that “if you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”

“In a country that has more guns than people, the mere possession of a weapon does not establish an imminent threat to officers — and neither does having a weapon and approaching officers,” Stoughton said. “I don’t think there’s any evidence to confirm the official narrative at all. It’s not unlawful for someone to carry a weapon in Minnesota.”

Minnesota official says state investigators blocked from shooting scene

In the hours after Pretti’s shooting, Minnesota authorities obtained a search warrant granting them access to the shooting scene. Drew Evans, superintendent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said his team was blocked from the scene.

Minnesota authorities also received an emergency court order from a federal judge barring officials “from destroying or altering evidence related to the fatal shooting involving federal officers.”

Bovino sounded a less strident tone at a Sunday news conference, calling Pretti’s shooting a “tragedy that was preventable” even as he urged people not to “interfere, obstruct, delay or assault law enforcement.” He refused to comment on what he called the “freeze-frame concept,” referring to videos circulating on social media that raise doubts about the dangers Pretti posed to officers.

“That, folks, is why we have something called an investigation,” Bovino said. “I wasn’t there wrestling him myself. So I’m not going to speculate. I’m going to wait for that investigation.”

Policing experts said the irregularities in the federal response went beyond the government’s immediate defense. Before Pretti’s parents had even been notified of his death, DHS posted a photograph on X of a 9mm Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun seized during the scuffle, portraying the weapon as justification for the killing.

“The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID,” the post said. “This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage.”

However, the photo showed only one loaded magazine lying next to the pistol, which had apparently been emptied and displayed on the seat of a vehicle. Minnesota state officials said that, by removing the weapon from the scene, Border Patrol officers likely mishandled key evidence.

Videos show Pretti holding a cellphone

None of the half-dozen bystander videos shows Pretti brandishing his gun. Rather, the videos showed Pretti’s hands were only holding his mobile phone as a masked Border Patrol officer opened fire.

In videos of the scuffle, “gun, gun” is heard, and an officer appears to pull a handgun from Pretti’s waist area and begins moving away. As that happens, a first shot is fired by a Border Patrol officer. There’s a slight pause, and then the same officer fires several more times into Pretti’s back.

Several use-of-force experts said that unenhanced video clips alone would neither exonerate nor support prosecution of the officers, underscoring the need for a thorough investigation. A key piece of evidence will likely be the video from the phone Pretti was holding when he was killed. Federal officials have not yet released that footage or shared it with state investigators.

“The evaluation of the reasonableness of this shooting will entirely depend on when the pistol became visible and how, if at all, it was being displayed or used,” said Charles “Joe” Key, a former police lieutenant and longtime use-of-force expert.

Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, described the federal government’s response as “amateur hour.”

“Jumping to the end result of this investigation, or what’s supposed to be an investigation, is somewhat embarrassing for policing professionals nationwide,” Adams said. “It’s clear that professionals in policing are observing what’s going on and not liking what they’re seeing.”