Alex Pretti’s fatal run-in with federal officers Saturday was reportedly not his first, and federal agents had known about him before he was shot and killed.


The 37-year-old broke a rib in a confrontation with federal officers about a week earlier, sources told CNN on Tuesday.

Pretti allegedly tracked ICE in his vehicle, before stopping, shouting, and blowing a whistle during the law enforcement operation, according to the CNN source that requested anonymity to avoid scrutiny.

Pretti was reportedly tackled by several agents, one of whom pressed on his back, resulting in a broken rib. He was released at the scene and later received medical treatment consistent with that injury.

CNN also reported through sources that federal immigration officials keep records on obstructionists, such as during Pretti’s first run-in. It is part of an intelligence-gathering effort detailed in a memo circulated to agents earlier this month.

Agents were instructed to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protesters, etc.,” so they could “capture it all in one consolidated form,” even in cases where no arrest was made, according to the report.

Federal officials have defended the collection of such information, saying it is standard practice when individuals obstruct or threaten law enforcement.

“When our law enforcement encounter a violent agitator who is breaking the law, obstructing law enforcement or assaulting them, our law enforcement make records to advance prosecution,” DHS assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

“This is not groundbreaking, it is standard protocol.”

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly warned of increased threats against federal officers and has recently launched initiatives encouraging the public to report alleged harassment of ICE agents.

“We’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding and assault, we’re going to make them famous,” President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said in a televised interview earlier this month.

“We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”

It remains unclear whether agents recognized Pretti during Saturday’s fatal encounter, which ended after officers wrestled him to the ground, recovered a firearm from his waistband, and shot him.

“That day, he thought he was going to die,” the source told CNN, a confrontation that apparently left him undaunted and later carrying a loaded Sig Sauer handgun with multiple high-capacity magazines on the day he was fatally shot.

Federal authorities say investigations are ongoing into both the shooting and broader anti-ICE activities that have crossed into violence.