The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation in the shooting death of Alex Pretti, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters on 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 said during a news conference on Friday. “That’s like any investigation that the Department of Justice and the FBI do every day. It means we’re looking at video, talking to witnesses, trying to understand what happened.”
DHS SAYS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SOUGHT AMID PRETTI SHOOTING HAD VIOLENT DOMESTIC HISTORY
Blanche said that a recent video appearing to show Pretti spitting at federal agents and damaging a government SUV days before the shooting wouldn’t impact the DOJ’s perception of the investigation.
“I don’t think a single video should change any perception that the Department of Justice may or may not have about that tragic occurrence last Saturday,” Blanche said.
Pretti’s family later confirmed to The Minnesota Star Tribune that the person seen in the video is Alex Pretti.
“A week before Alex was gunned down in the street – despite posing no threat to anyone – he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents,” Steve Schleicher, attorney for the Pretti family, told Fox News. “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan. 24.”
The DOJ’s announcement is in line with what Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday. The secretary said her department would follow the investigation that the FBI was leading and would continue to give them all necessary information.
A DHS spokesperson echoed this to Fox News Digital on Friday, saying, “[The] FBI is now leading the Pretti investigation with HSI supporting. This is separate from the CBP investigation.”
Pretti was fatally shot on Jan. 24 during an interaction with U.S. Border Patrol personnel in Minneapolis, Minn.
Weeks before Pretti was fatally shot, federal agents had a deadly encounter with Renee Nicole Good. However, Blanche suggested that there would not be a civil rights investigation into her case, saying that the DOJ Civil Rights Division “does not investigate” every shooting and that “it depends on the circumstances.” He did not go into specifics about why Pretti’s death was being probed by the Civil Rights Division, but Good’s was not.
Pretti and Good’s deaths sparked tensions between federal immigration enforcement and agitators within Minnesota, as well as some state leaders and lawmakers. Some U.S. lawmakers have called for Noem to be fired or impeached over her department’s handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown, but President Donald Trump has defended her.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Fox News’ Matt Finn contributed to this report.
