A forensic body language expert is challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s account of Alex Pretti’s death, pointing viewers to an ICE agent in a gray jacket who appears to remove a gun, turn away, and run as the unarmed ICU nurse is shot in the back by ICE agents.
Minneapolis is once again under the national spotlight following two fatal ICE-involved shootings within a matter of weeks. First, it was Renee Nicole Good; now, outrage is growing over the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti during an anti-ICE protest on Jan. 24.
Trump: ‘unpredictable gun’
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), President Donald Trump defended the ICE operation, describing Pretti’s firearm – allegedly pulled from his waistband – as “a very dangerous and unpredictable gun…a gun that goes off when people don’t know it.”
“I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it,” Trump told the WSJ in the Jan. 25 article. “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.”
‘Brandishing’ a gun
Defending the deadly encounter, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Pretti was “brandishing” a gun and had “attacked” officers.
“This individual went and impeded their law enforcement operations, attacked those officers, had a weapon on him and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers, coming, brandishing like,” Noem said the day of the shooting, according to CNN.
But the footage tells a more complicated story.
Legally obtained firearm
Videos taken at the scene and widely shared online do not show Pretti holding a gun – he was however carrying a legally obtained firearm in a belt holster.
Several clips show the registered Veterans Affairs nurse holding a phone – not a gun – in one hand as he’s surrounded by officers, pepper-sprayed, and forced to the ground. Eyewitnesses have said that Pretti – described as a “kind-hearted soul” who was helping a woman caught in the chaos –was trying to comply and never appeared to threaten the officers.
There’s no indication from the video that Pretti drew a weapon or posed an immediate threat.
Agent ‘actively escalating the situation’
Now, a well-known body language expert is joining the conversation about what really happened.
Dr. G Explains, a clinical and forensic psychologist who reviewed the shooting footage, analyzed the behavior of the ICE agents who were key players in Pretti’s death.
In a video shared on YouTube, he told viewers that one agent was “not somebody who’s trying to deescalate.”
“This is someone who is actively escalating the situation very, very quickly,” he started, pointing to the agent who pushed and pepper sprayed Pretti several times.
After Pretti was dropped to the ground and overwhelmed by “aggressive” ICE agents, the same agent was “swinging down and hitting Alex Pretti in the face with his pepper spray.”
Man in the gray jacket
Then, Dr. G urged his followers to “pay very close attention to the man in the gray jacket.”
When Pretti is on his knees, “you see [agent in the gray jacket] remove the gun from Alex Pretti’s pants.” According to Dr. G, the moment the firearm was pulled, someone yells “gun” and the agent who retrieved it from Pretti’s waistband does not alert others.
“Now, this other officer has literally pulled the gun out. And that’s as soon as [ICE] starts aiming the gun. The gun is no longer present. It is no longer visible. And that’s when [ICE] aims the gun at him,” he continued.
‘Really bad idea to turn your back’
“I want to show you the immediate response once he gets a hold of the gun. So, right there, this is the point where [agent in gray jacket] has the gun. The shooting has now started right here. And [gray jacket] is literally running away and not looking back,” Dr. G explains, questioning why someone supposedly faced with a credible threat would not take immediate defensive action.
“Now, at this point, when [gray jacket] took the firearm, as far as I can tell, because we couldn’t hear it, he didn’t announce to everybody else that he had had the firearm, that the man had been disarmed.
“And you could argue, well, maybe he thought he had a second firearm. Maybe he thought he had one somewhere else. It would be a really bad idea to turn your back on someone if you believe that they are armed and dangerous still.”
Dr. G’s breakdown of the agent’s body language suggests that ICE’s narrative may not align with how events unfolded. His expert assessment has further intensified calls for a transparent investigation into the incident.
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