One major question has been asked following the shooting of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis this past weekend.
On Saturday (January 24), Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was killed by federal immigration officers just weeks after the death of Renee Good.
The shooting occurred on January 24, during what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described as a targeted operation involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol agents.
The incident occurred at approximately 9:05AM near Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, where federal agents encountered Pretti while conducting an enforcement operation in the area.
Following the shooting, President Donald Trump spoke out to confirm that his administration is "reviewing everything" in relation to Pretti's death.
Pretti had been attending a protest against the US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), where he was seen trying to help a woman up to her feet after she'd been knocked down in the snow by agents.
A tussle then ensued with ICE agents, where he was apparently pepper sprayed and tackled to the ground before being shot several times within seconds.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed that Pretti was carrying a semi-automatic handgun and two magazines of ammunition, alleging that he "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement".
However, footage from the scene appeared to show that Pretti had only his phone in his right hand at the time he was tackled by agents, with his left hand being empty.
Pretti did have a firearm on his person which Minnesota officials said he had a permit to have.
Videos from witnesses appeared to show that Pretti was disarmed before he was shot, after officers had removed the gun from his waistband.
Following the public outcry over the second US citizen's death at the hands of ICE within a matter of weeks, Trump told the Wall Street Journal: "We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination."
He added: “I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it.
"But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn’t play good either."
Trump added that Pretti's firearm is a "very dangerous gun, a dangerous and unpredictable gun. It’s a gun that goes off when people don’t know it."
One of the major questions that has been raised about the shooting is where the first shot came from, with some claiming it originated from Pretti's gun which accidentally went off in the hands of an ICE agent after being removed from Pretti's waistband.
However, Bellingcat reports that after thorough inspection of the footage, the first shot appears to come from a Border Patrol agent, and Pretti's gun never appears to go off.
Onlookers stated that an agent in a grey jacket appeared to take the gun from Pretti's waistband, with the nurse never being seen holding the weapon, only his phone as a camera.
They claimed that as the ICE agent in the grey jacket took the firearm away, someone shouted "gun" and one shot could be heard, quickly followed by nine more.
Bellingcat notes that at the time the first shot is heard, the man in the grey jacket can be seen leaving with Pretti's gun, while another agent in a brown beanie appears to open fire on Pretti.
Per Bellingcat, Pretti's weapon's slide does not move back in the footage, indicating it did not release an accidental shot which would have scared the ICE agents into repeatedly shooting Pretti.
Pretti's parents shared a blistering statement to the Trump administration following the killing of their son, telling Kare 11: "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.
"Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man."