\n<\/p>\n
MINNEAPOLIS \u00ad\u2014 The struggle that<\/span> killed Alex Pretti began with a shove. It ended with gunshots.<\/p>\n In the final moments before he was shot and killed by federal authorities in Minneapolis, Pretti attempted to intervene in a confrontation where several\u00ad federal agents were shoving two women. In videos from the scene, Pretti crosses the street and places himself between the officers and the women before being pepper-sprayed, separated from the group, beaten, and shot multiple times.<\/p>\n \u201cI could tell the second that I laid eyes on him that he was horrifically injured.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n One of the women involved in the confrontation, who was the closest civilian to Pretti when he was killed, said that in the immediate aftermath of the shooting she identified herself as an emergency medical technician and moved to perform CPR. Federal agents restrained her, said the woman, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution by the government.<\/p>\n The woman, a registered EMT whose credentials were confirmed by The Intercept, said in an exclusive interview that it was apparent Pretti had suffered serious injuries and needed medical help.<\/p>\n \u201cI could tell the second that I laid eyes on him that he was horrifically injured,\u201d the EMT recalled. \u201cI immediately said, \u2018I\u2019m an EMT! He has a brain injury! He has a serious brain injury! I need to help him right now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In videos of the shooting, the EMT repeatedly exclaims that Pretti is \u201cdecorticate posturing<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a medical term for the curling and movements of the limbs after suffering severe brain trauma. Then, Pretti\u2019s body went completely limp. Videos show<\/a> the EMT frantically pleading with one of the officers as other agents begin to surround Pretti\u2019s body.<\/p>\n \u201cI was literally begging the agent who was holding me back to let me do CPR,\u201d she recalled. \u201cBecause I knew that if he wasn\u2019t pulseless at that point already, he was going to become pulseless very, very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Immediately following the shooting,\u00a0the EMT, who was carrying trauma supplies at the scene, attempted to reach Pretti before being intercepted and held back by a masked officer. The medic\u2019s identity and place at the scene were corroborated by an attorney with the Minnesota branch of the National Lawyers Guild. The EMT\u2019s account of events is supported by publicly available video evidence and court documents.<\/p>\n Government agencies have an obligation to give basic health care to people that they have arrested or detained, according to to Xavier de Janon, the director of mass defense at the National Lawyers Guild.<\/p>\n \u201cIf government agencies fail to keep someone alive and there is proof that it their fault, they could be liable for their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cThe responsibility of the government is to make sure that the person in their custody is cared for and alive,\u201d de Janon said. \u201cIf government agencies fail to keep someone alive and there is proof that it\u2019s their fault, they could be liable for their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither the Border Patrol nor its parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, the two agencies reportedly responsible for killing Pretti, responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n The EMT said that while Pretti\u2019s injuries were so severe it was unlikely he could be saved, critical minutes passed between the shooting and the time when another bystander first rendered aid \u2014 a period when the EMT was trying to get access to Pretti.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were hellbent on not allowing anybody to help him until he was dead,\u201d she said. \u201cI was right there, and they \u2014 all of them\u00a0\u2014 made the decision to deny me access to give him the best possible chance of survival.\u201d<\/p>\n For more than two months, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been besieged by agents from CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agents arrived as part of a sweeping nationwide assault on liberal cities carried out in the form of a massive immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n In Minneapolis, federal authorities have shot at least three people and injured scores more <\/a>as their operations unfolded. Weeks earlier, federal agents shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old artist, while she was unarmed and inside of her vehicle.<\/p>\n It was against this backdrop of state violence that the EMT went in her capacity as a medic to the intersection of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, where Pretti would later be killed. She was responding to a call for help sent out over one of the many rapid response channels that Minneapolis residents use to track and warn residents about federal immigration agents.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s medics dispersed in pretty much all of the rapid response networks,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople try to be available to dispatch across the city because the rate of them harming people \u2014 it\u2019s just so high at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n On the day of Pretti\u2019s death, immigration agents were gathered outside of a donut shop in the Whittier neighborhood of South Minneapolis. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino claimed in a statement that officers arrived on the scene in pursuit of a \u201cviolent criminal illegal alien.\u201d<\/a> A subsequent review by Minnesota officials found that the man border patrol agents claimed to be pursuing had no violent criminal convictions<\/a> on record in the state.<\/p>\n\n
\n
Before the Shooting<\/strong><\/h2>\n