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By Gabe Whisnant
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The Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis resident who was killed Saturday during an encounter with U.S. Border Patrol officers, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday.
“We’re looking at everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened,” Blanche told reporters, describing a review that includes video, witness interviews and other evidence.
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Blanche did not detail why the department decided the circumstances warranted a civil rights review in Pretti’s case. He noted that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division does not investigate every law-enforcement shooting and said there must be circumstances or facts — including potentially unknown facts — that justify federal scrutiny.
He also pointed to statements by President Donald Trump about examining what happened. “President Trump has said repeatedly, ‘Of course, this is something we’re going to investigate,’” Blanche said.
Steve Schleicher, a Minneapolis attorney representing Pretti’s family, said in a statement to Newsweek, “The family’s focus is on a fair and impartial investigation that examines the facts around his murder.”
FBI Takes Over as Lead Agency in Federal Probe
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that the FBI will lead the federal investigation into Pretti’s death, reversing an earlier plan under which Homeland Security Investigations, a DHS unit, was to take the lead.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem first disclosed the shift during a Thursday night interview on Fox News, saying DHS would cooperate with the bureau as it conducts the investigation. “We will continue to follow the investigation that the FBI is leading and giving them all the information that they need,” Noem told host Sean Hannity.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Homeland Security Investigations will support the FBI. Separately, Customs and Border Protection is conducting its own internal review of the shooting by the officers involved, federal officials said.
Federal officials have not explained when the lead role shifted from HSI to the FBI or why, and the bureau did not immediately respond to requests for comment in several reports.
The change has also renewed questions about coordination with Minnesota authorities. It was not immediately clear whether the FBI would share evidence with state investigators, who have said they have been shut out of key steps in the federal inquiry.
Videos Challenge Early Public Accounts of Pretti Shooting
The investigation has unfolded amid a widening dispute over what occurred in the moments before Pretti was shot. Noem initially said Pretti had brandished a handgun and aggressively approached officers. But multiple videos that later circulated appeared to contradict that account, showing Pretti holding what appears to be a mobile phone as agents pushed him to the ground, removed a handgun from his clothing and then fired shots.
Noem acknowledged this week that the situation was “very chaotic” and said her initial statements were based on information being relayed by agents and officers at the scene. “We were using the best information we had at the time,” she told Hannity, adding that federal authorities were trying to be transparent about what they believed to be true in the immediate aftermath.
Public reporting has also noted that Pretti had a legal permit to carry a concealed firearm, and video footage has been described as not showing him reaching for the weapon before agents seized it.
Blanche said Friday that investigators will examine the evidence broadly and that no single piece of footage should drive conclusions about what happened.
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Earlier Confrontation Video Resurfaces as Trump Weighs In
The agency shift and the civil rights investigation come as additional video has emerged showing an earlier confrontation between Pretti and federal officers days before his death.
Footage dated January 13 has been described as showing Pretti yelling near federal vehicles and damaging a taillight, followed by a struggle on the ground before he ran away. The video appears to show what looks like a handgun in his waistband as he turns away, though it is not clear whether officers saw it, according to accounts of the footage.
Schleicher, the family attorney, has said the earlier incident does not justify a fatal shooting more than a week later.
In a post early Friday on Truth Social, Trump cited the earlier video in arguing that it undercut portrayals of Pretti as a peaceful protester. Trump described Pretti as an “agitator” and “perhaps, insurrectionist,” and praised the officer involved in the earlier encounter as “calm and cool.”
The Justice Department has not provided a timeline for the civil rights investigation or said when it might decide whether any federal civil rights laws were violated.
Why Pretti’s Case is Being Investigated — and Renee Good’s is Not
Blanche’s announcement also drew renewed attention to the Justice Department’s earlier stance on a separate Minneapolis shooting involving federal immigration enforcement.
Blanche has said the department is not opening a civil rights investigation into the January 7 death of Renee Good, who was shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. On Friday, he again emphasized that civil rights investigators do not automatically review every shooting and that cases can be handled differently depending on the circumstances.
The contrasting decisions have intensified scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, where the two deaths have prompted protests and calls from some lawmakers for greater transparency and accountability.
Updates: 1/30/26, 3:15 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
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