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Jan. 24, 2026 14:36-15:32 - CSPAN
55:53
Newssource Coverage of Minneapolis Protests
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De-Escalate for Peace 00:04:18
A lawful firearm concealed permit carrier.
Something that I've heard been lectured to by Republicans for decades.
That is not only your right, it's your duty.
We know that the potential to further inflame tensions is high.
And to Minnesotans, there's a difference.
We want calm and peace and normalcy back to our lives.
They want chaos.
We cannot and we will not give them what they want by meeting violence with violence.
Minnesota and our local law enforcement, as you have seen, have done everything possible to de-escalate.
Local media has reported extensively on the cooperation to de-escalate this situation.
Donald Trump, I call on you once again, remove this force from Minnesota.
They are sowing chaos and violence.
We've seen deadly violence from federal agents again and again and again.
But in contrast to that on these frozen streets, what you witnessed yesterday was the best of Minnesotans, peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.
And I attended in the church basement hundreds of Minnesotans from all faiths packing care packages for families that have been ripped apart.
Despite the horrific acts by this federal government, Minnesotans are standing up for the rule of law.
They're protesting loudly and urgently, but peacefully.
It must stay that way, Minnesota.
Minnesotans are witnessing, and we're creating a log of evidence for the future prosecution of ICE agents and officials responsible for this.
They're helping their neighbors.
They're walking their kids to school.
They're feeding families.
I salute their courage and their restraint.
And I call on all Americans to see the decency that this state is exhibiting and the horrific cruelty, unprofessional, absolute abomination that is passing for what these ICE agents are doing on our streets.
They think they can provoke us into abandoning our values.
Well, they're dead wrong.
We'll keep the peace.
We'll secure the justice with our neighbors, and we'll see this occupation ends.
Minnesotans and Minnesota law enforcement that continuously is being denigrated by this administration will continue to be the adults in the room, the professionals in the room, the decent human beings in the room that will keep the peace.
With this, I'd like to turn it over to Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson to update you on the situation as we know it.
Thank you, Governor.
I'm Bob Jacobson, Commissioner of Public Safety for the Department of Public Safety, and again, it's my honor to serve in that position.
A man was shot and killed this morning in Minneapolis.
I want to pause and remember what cannot get lost in this moment.
A man died.
His family and friends are feeling unimaginable heartbreak and trauma.
And I know Minnesotans and I know our community will rally around this man's family and friends to support him.
I also understand clearly that people are upset.
They're scared.
They're confused.
And I want to assure you that this state's public safety officials and our local law enforcement partners are doing everything in our power to get answers to help return a sense of normalcy back to our communities.
You have the right to demonstrate peacefully.
We recognize that demonstrations are often driven by strong emotions, beliefs, and a desire to be heard.
But please, please remain peaceful.
And I want to say it again because it is important and it is critical.
Peacefully demonstrate.
Remain Peaceful 00:04:03
By doing so, you help local authorities to get answers.
You help us.
to do our investigations.
By remaining peaceful, you help ensure nobody else may be killed or injured.
The thousands and thousands of people who gathered yesterday in Minneapolis proved the Minnesotans can make their voices heard peacefully, and they can do so without violence, and they can do so without destruction.
And state resources are available and ready to support our local law enforcement partners as requested.
And those resources include the Minnesota State Patrol, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Minnesota National Guard.
With that, we'll stand for questions.
Kendra Ell with Caroline.
Governor, you've made this request before.
Is there any reason to believe that it will be answered differently?
Have you had any conversations with the president, with the federal government, and is there any indication that they are going to pull out our backdown?
Well, I spoke twice this morning, shortly after I received the call of this shooting.
I spoke with the President's chief of staff, and first request was to get her people out of there, to get these federal agents out of there.
They were going to cause more chaos.
And second call is, with no uncertain terms, that we will investigate this.
We will not be stonewalled.
What we've already seen, and you saw it this morning, before any investigation is done, you have the most powerful people in the federal government spinning stories and putting up pictures and unrelated people who we don't know anything about and a picture of a firearm to try and spin a narrative.
And I just, I ask Americans, this will end when enough Americans say this will end.
Do I have any confidence Donald Trump will do the right thing?
No, I don't have a lot of confidence Donald Trump will do the right thing.
I do have a lot of confidence that the majority of the American people will do the right thing.
And I think there cannot be very many people across this country looking right now after all the reporting that's been done, after everything that's been said under the pretense that they are here about immigration reform, and quit referring to these people as law enforcement.
They are not law enforcement.
We have law enforcement who do an incredible job.
And to listen to Greg Bovino denigrate the work of our people who are out there cleaning up their mess.
No, I don't have a lot of confidence that he himself will do it.
But here's what I do have confidence in.
There's a whole lot of Republicans for whatever reason cannot find their spine.
But they might find the ability to know that they're not going to win another election as long as they live unless they stand up for what's right and stand up for the rule of law and stand up for human decency.
And that's the moment.
Just a follow-up, because if that is not the case, what are the people of Minnesota supposed to do who are in the middle right now?
Because if they do a stonewall and you're trying to investigate, is that forcing them?
Yeah, no, it's a good question.
And look, I speaking to the people of Minnesota right now, I hear that scream from you, and I'll continue to plead and ask you for peace.
And I know the answer is you ask us for peace and we give it and we get shot in the face on the streets coming out of a donut shop.
We cannot give them what they want.
I don't know how to say this in so many terms to watch the madness that we've witnessed over this last week coming out of the White House and what it's doing here.
My confidence is, and I say it to Minnesotans, as I've said, exercise your First Amendment rights, speak out, bear witness, and document legally.
But I understand the risk in that, and I understand the courage that it takes to have people out there doing this.
Thank God, thank God, we have video, because according to DHS, these seven heroic guys took an onslaught of a battalion against them or something.
Why We Left Peace 00:10:26
It's nonsense, people.
It is nonsense, and it's lies.
So my confidence is this, Minnesotans.
You know who you are, and you demonstrate it every single day, and we damn sure know who these people are.
The American public knows, and this needs to be the event that says enough.
Go ahead.
No, I'm up front.
Governor Carolyn, thank you for the ECCO.
Either you or Commissioner Bayson speaks to the fact that we talk about you don't trust the federal government to handle this investigation.
We know what the Renee Good shooting BCA said that they were blocked from accessing evidence.
Has there been any suggestion that ECA is not allowed to do this investigation?
Do you have officers on the ground doing the investigation right now?
The question was related to whether or not the BCA is on the ground currently with the investigation and a reference to previous investigations that the BCA have attempted to be a part of.
What I'll tell you right now is that we no longer have BCA agents or public safety, State Patrol, or Minneapolis on the ground at that crime scene.
Is that an instruction by the federal government, or did you pull your agents out?
What I will tell you, and not to get further into the investigation, but DHS pulled out of the scene, leaving that to Minnesota State Patrol, Minneapolis.
We did not have enough resources to be able to hold that ground safely, and we had to leave that scene because of the number of people that were available and the safety of those in the public and the safety of our teams.
We were able to get there, but at that time we were not able to hold that scene to do a crime scene investigation.
I can't talk anymore about those details.
Who is handling the investigation?
If not, either DHS nor state officials right now.
We'll have more on that, but the BCA is engaged and involved, and we are working at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department on this, on the scene in this investigation.
So we are there, we're available.
We want to make sure that we continue to work on this and engage with our federal law enforcement.
But at this point, we don't have anything more to share about the crime scene.
Again, we were not able to hold it.
We wanted to make sure and keep people safe.
But federal law enforcement left the scene and left us there.
Governor Ernesto, within your time, have you activated the National Guard?
I noted that the Sheriff Grid has requested for additional assistance.
Can you tell us whether they're going to be playing a role in keeping this?
Yeah, yes, the answer is yes, we have, as we said last week, and we staged those troops.
I'll have General Mankey talk about where they're at and again, use this as an opportunity to stress To Minnesotans, the frustration you have, and as you saw this, they killed a man, created chaos, pushed down protesters, threw gas indiscriminately, and then left the scene, and then we're left to clean up.
I understand the anger.
I understand trying to parse who were the law enforcement on the scene when you got there after a man was killed is difficult for folks who are out there.
But I can't stress enough our goal, and I'll have General Minke talk about what the role of these guard troops are in conjunction with incredible work from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office from Mutual Aid Across and of course the State Patrol of trying to get to the point where what we're saying is we can handle this and Minnesotans can express their First Amendment rights and have our folks on the streets and get these people out of here.
And so, John, if you want to talk a little bit, but the answer is yes, there's activated.
He can talk to you about numbers.
Speaking of our activated different than having an stage.
Yeah.
So the question is: what's the National Guard doing right now?
So we have, you know, we have been on state active duty for over a week.
So we've had soldiers prepared in the metro area to respond in a much rapid manner than if they were not mobilized.
So we have a request from the Hennepin County Sheriff to support them, and that is to help them free up additional resources for other work that they need to do.
And we have started coordinating with them this morning on that.
And that first area of support will be assisting them with their requirement to provide security to the Whipple Building.
So we'll be helping them there.
And then we are in parallel planning with other organizations within the state of Minnesota to include the State Patrol, the Minnesota DNR, and other local agencies to render assistance if requested.
Could you say how many are now employed?
I would say that the number that we have is adequate for the requests that we have right now.
And I will also tell you that we are bringing more resources that will be able to respond in a timely manner that are not fully mobilized yet.
But we are mobilizing more soldiers as we talk at this time.
I'd like not to get in the specific numbers for an operational security standpoint, but right now we have all the resources to meet the requests that we have.
Governor Waldo.
I would note on this one, too, that we'll be billing the federal government for the cost of the National Guard because they are incurring the costs that are falling on us by their reckless actions.
You alluded to this earlier, but are you rejecting the narrative that has been presented by federal officials that this man, this 37-year-old, this man, this man, this man, this man...
And are you rejecting the idea that he played some role with weapon in being two?
I'm rejecting the rush to judgment within 15 minutes of this, which they did last time.
That's why you need to have a fair investigation.
And that's why a video can show one thing, but what happened beforehand.
But there already will slander this individual.
They've already made this the case.
And I will just say you will all start to see it, and some of you probably have.
There's multiple angles of this.
And I'll go back to what we talked about before.
They're telling you not to trust your eyes and ears, not to trust the facts that you're seeing in front of them.
And at some point in time, you're reporting, and I think the reporting this week has been spectacular across Minnesota, that there's not two sides to every story.
But in this situation, what I'm saying is we need to have a fair investigation, understanding what's happening and held accountable.
We continue to hear, and we heard it from the Vice President, that these folks can do whatever they want.
They can have full immunity.
And what I'm telling you is they will not.
There will be justice to Minnesotans.
Continue to gather the information.
So I won't say where it is because I think it's irresponsible to make that judgment.
But what I see with my eyes and what you're going to see with your eyes makes that pretty hard to believe.
And I would imagine as a federal officer, they would have come out and sounded like these professionals sound and say we need to gather the information, we need to gather all the facts, we need to put them forward, and then we can make some informed decision based on the fact.
They've written the narrative already.
And the audacity to critique the police chief of Minneapolis after what work that those heroic officers are trying to do and to be critiqued by this guy.
I mean, I don't know, I've said it a lot, but America, as you're listening, enough is enough.
Enough is enough of this.
End this.
End this.
And we see them moving to Maine.
If you're in Boston, you're in Chicago, you're in Philly, you're in Miami, it doesn't matter.
We can't live like this.
Our children are in trauma.
A five-year-old, you saw the picture, the bunny hat, and the Spider-Man.
Is there not like some narrative to throw around to parade around in some coat you had made and act like you're a tough guy or whatever?
These are people's lives, and we have rule of law.
So I'll let the investigation play itself out.
We will do our best to find it.
But I don't know, you kill a man and then you just leave your law enforcement, you just leave it.
Is there a single case in American history where you just like walk away and say, I guess that just happened and we're not going to clean up our mess?
I'm proud of Minnesotans.
I'm proud of law enforcement here and our partners, and we'll get to the bottom of it.
I think we have time for another one.
So yes, ma'am.
Brittany number of the SCP TL5.
A vice commander meeting at the press conference within the hour that they're calling on state and local law enforcement to, quote, help coordinate to get viable criminals packaging.
What's the response to that press?
I'm better off to let these guys, the professionals.
I have my thoughts.
So the question was: what are we doing to assist federal law enforcement on getting violent criminals off the street, if I understand the question?
Greg Molino said that at the press conference, he was calling on state and local law enforcement.
So what was the response there?
State and local law enforcement are always ready and willing and able to arrest violent offenders.
We do not stand down from that, no matter where we get that information from.
If there are violent offenders or violent criminals or violent crimes, we will investigate and we'll bring those to justice.
If the federal government would like to work with us, to continue to work with us as they have in the past to locate those violent offenders, we are always open to those discussions and always willing to assist.
We do not ignore that.
We are ready and able, and we do do that.
All of you as part of the media hear us arresting violent offenders all the time.
We have not stood down.
That is our mission.
The federal government is not alone in arresting violent offenders.
State and local law enforcement does that every day at great risk to their life, at great risk to the community.
We do it because we want a safe Minnesota, and the federal government is not the only one to do that.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Appreciate it.
I'm here.
I'm not going anywhere.
I'll try and clear up these.
We're taking a live now.
Man, Charles, Greg Bruntell, held a news conference after a shooting death involving federal agents.
Good afternoon.
Thank you all for being here today.
Support for Federal Law Enforcement 00:04:03
I'm Gregory Bovino, and I have the privilege and honor of leading United States Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection here in Minneapolis.
Some of those brave men and women of Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security law enforcement join me here today to show support for all federal law enforcement who have been under constant attack in Minneapolis for weeks now.
This morning was no different.
At 9.05 a.m. Central Standard Time, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien, Jose Huerta Chuma.
You can see this illegal alien on the screen to my left and right.
That is Jose Huerta Chuma, whose criminal history includes domestic assault to intentionally inflict bodily harm, disorderly conduct, and driving without a valid license.
During this operation, an individual approached U.S. Border Patrol agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.
The agents attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted.
Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, a Border Patrol agent fired defensive shots.
Medics on the scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject, but the subject was pronounced dead at the scene.
The suspect also had two loaded magazines and no accessible ID.
This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.
Then, about 200 rioters arrived at the scene and began to obstruct and assault law enforcement.
Crowd control measures have been deployed for the safety of the public and law enforcement.
This situation is evolving and more information is forthcoming.
The officer was highly trained and had been serving as a border patrol agent for eight years.
The officer has extensive training as a range safety officer and less lethal officer.
As mentioned, this is only the latest attack on law enforcement.
Across the country, the men and women of DHS have been attacked, shot at, doxed, had their family members threatened, and as we have seen more, than 100 vehicle rammings over the past year against federal law enforcement.
We will not allow violence against our law enforcement officers, and we need state and local help, state and local law enforcement to help us coordinate to get violent criminals off the street.
Mayor Fry and Chief O'Hare just a few minutes ago did the opposite of that by omitting the fact that the suspect had a gun and magazines full of ammunition.
In what looks like a situation, again, where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.
I want to reiterate what President Donald Trump, Secretary Christy Noam, myself, Director Marcos Charles, and so many others have said time and again.
If you obstruct a law enforcement officer or assault a law enforcement officer, you are in violation of the law and will be arrested.
Our law enforcement officers take an oath to protect the public.
We go to work every day to protect our friends, our neighbors, and our fellow citizens.
People Gathering at Scene 00:08:59
The fact of the matter is that the law does not enforce itself.
It takes men and women who are willing to risk their lives to enforce it.
The men and women of CBP and ICE, law enforcement, are highly trained professionals who love this country and do this work because they want to leave their kids and their grandkids a country that's safe and secure.
Questions?
All right.
Can I wait?
One question.
First question.
When did agents learn that he had a gun and did he ever brandish that weapon at agents?
Allie, this situation, again, is evolving.
This situation is under investigation.
Those facts will come to light.
This particular incident is being investigated just like we investigate other similar incidents like we've done over the past several years.
It's in the hands of professionals.
Those facts will come to light.
All right, going on the next question.
So did he have an additional gun or was the gun moved from the scene?
And I watched the video from Stretch to Finish of that woman who was wearing that red jacket.
And it doesn't seem like he pulled the weapon at any point.
So did the account come from the agent?
Did they say that he pulled the gun before, during, after?
When does the gun come out?
Again, this situation is evolving.
This is under investigation.
Those facts will come to light.
But let's take a look at the gun.
You can see the gun here on the screen there that that individual possessed.
It appears to be a semi-automatic, high-capacity type, possibly a SIG Sauer 9mm.
All right, no more questions.
Sorry, no more questions.
Serve me.
You're exactly just the guy in your mind.
You're right, isn't it?
You haven't pictured in a car.
We're taking you live now to Minneapolis, where protesters have been on the streets after a shooting death by a federal agent.
Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara said the victim is a 37-year-old male.
We're waiting for an official briefing from ICE officials.
Until then, here's a look at this.
I've been seeing Alex Pretty, who was there on scene.
And you can see him, you know, in the video before the shooting.
He's taking some video.
He's kind of waving a car through there at the scene where agents are doing some sort of targeted operation, they say.
He is on scene, and then this struggle ensues between agents and him and another woman.
And some of the critical facts that are emerging on this is Chief O'Hara confirmed that he is a concealed, he's a permit to carry owner here in the state of Minnesota and apparently had with him a 9mm handgun that Department of Public Safety has put out on social media today.
In fact, do we have the picture, Lori?
Can we show reviewers that are joining us here a picture?
Yes, please.
Okay, they're going to pull that up here in just momentarily.
But the Department of Homeland Security is saying that in addition to the gun, there were two magazines with that gun as well.
The Department of Homeland Security's narrative is that he came to massacre federal agents.
That's their words, not mine.
Okay, so this is the weapon that they're showing here today.
We do not know, and these are facts we don't know.
We don't know if the gun was ever pulled.
Was it ever fired?
Did officers see this during the course of the struggle as they were taking down the streets?
Those are really critical, important facts that no one knows yet.
Right, no one knows anything except what DHS says, and that is that he showed up and confronted the agents while armed with that gun you see there.
We're going to go live now to Mary McGuire.
She, along with Kelly O'Connell, have been out there for several hours now following what's happening and the growing protest there at 26th and Nicholas.
Do we have Mary?
Yeah, hey, Karen.
I have a little bit of a little bit of a different perspective than Kelly.
I have seen some law enforcement, but they are doing crowd control and traffic control.
You see a couple of MPD cars in the distance.
And as we were driving into the neighborhood, that's really the only law enforcement presence that we saw on scene here.
Just Minneapolis police squad vehicles blocking off streets so that presumably cars couldn't drive into the area.
We have seen a steady stream of people coming here to protest, many of them bundled up, of course, and wearing respirators and goggles, so ready to participate in this protest.
When we were parking, someone actually backed into our vehicle and didn't even realize it because they were so eager to get down here and participate in this protest.
But like you have been mentioning, we've not seen any evidence collection happening here.
This kind of struck me because, of course, being a reporter and covering police scenes over the years, you don't typically see ripped police tape like this until way after an investigation is done.
This says state patrol line on it, do not cross.
That was ripped.
I've seen a couple other areas where the police tape has been ripped.
So not any evidence collection happening here.
Again, being on scenes with the Minnesota BCA, they typically hold scenes for many hours.
So no state investigators here looking at the crime scene, no federal investigators that we've seen either.
The only police presence is those Minneapolis police squad cars that are doing traffic control in the surrounding areas.
But this crowd is definitely growing.
You see people standing on dumpsters here in front of me, holding signs, holding flags, things like that, chanting.
Things have remained very peaceful from what we've seen so far.
It's just people shouting, chanting, and it appears that they're holding a bit of a moment of silence for the victim right now.
But people bringing in water bottles.
I've seen a couple of first aid people as well.
So that's what we're seeing here at the scene now.
Happy to take any questions that you might have.
How many you get to sense, Mary, that the people are still coming to the scene?
Oh, yeah, definitely.
We've seen, we've had to kind of navigate a couple of blocks because it was tough to find parking around here.
And we saw people streaming in.
We parked kind of over by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and there were groups of people walking in.
So it appears that people have heard about what has happened and they are coming down to this area to participate.
And Mary, I say, you know, we got the upside-down flags that we're showing right now.
I saw somebody walking with a bullhorn.
What other things are they bringing there?
Did you say water bottles?
Yep, we got a lot of water bottles.
Like I said, first aid kits, signs.
They seem ready for tear guests, even though a lot of that has dissipated.
A lot of people wearing goggles, a lot of people wearing respirators that I've seen as well.
And of course, it is very cold out, so people appear to be bundled up as well.
Right.
And you said that as far as police dealing with protesters or crowd control, there is no sign of law enforcement with regards to that.
You said maybe just some traffic enforcement.
Is that correct?
Right, right.
No law enforcement on scene.
This is an area that has a lot of businesses, and I'm right next to Cheapo Records right now.
They were closed yesterday for that day of protest, and then their sign says that they'll reopen today, but they're not open.
None of the restaurants around here are open either.
The chairs are still on the tables and things like that.
We see an apartment building in front of us.
I've seen a couple people walking on the roof of the apartment building here, but the crowd continues to grow, and I have not seen any law enforcement attempting to dissipate this group or collect evidence, as Bob Jacobson was just talking about here a few moments ago, too.
As we know, and Mary pointed out so correctly, that crime scene security after an incident like this is critical for investigators to gather evidence at this scene, and that's not happening at this moment, although the videos that are emerging will be critical pieces of evidence.
Different videos, and that will be crucial.
They have different angles.
City's Response Under Investigation 00:15:21
Right, they have the gun that they say they collected off of the man who was shot.
So, they do have some things, and of course, they've got accounts of witnesses and agents that were there and that kind of thing.
So, it's not like they have nothing to watch.
But what's probably missing, guessing here, but like casings, shell casings, things like that, and maybe some blood evidence.
I don't know.
But some things you would normally collect from the scene.
It appears they haven't been able to do that.
They just didn't have enough state patrol to secure the scene.
Again, the victim in this case has just been identified by the Associated Press and his family is Alex Pritty, 37 years old, a resident of Minneapolis, and an American, as Chief O'Hara announced earlier today.
In fact, let's go back.
Let's take a moment to reset here for a moment and go back to the news conference with Mayor Fry and Chief O'Hara from about, oh my goodness, maybe almost two hours ago now.
And so you can listen in on them and their statements and thoughts at that time.
My name is Brian O'Hara, B-R-I-A-N, O apostrophe H-A-R-A.
I am the Minneapolis Police Chief.
At approximately 9:03 a.m. this morning, Minneapolis police received the report of a shooting involving federal law enforcement in the area of East 26th Street and Nicholas Avenue on the south side of the city.
Officers arrived and found an adult male with multiple gunshot wounds when they arrived.
Life-saving aid was being rendered and he was transported by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center where he was later pronounced deceased.
Based on the information that we have, which is very limited, this is a 37-year-old white male who is a Minneapolis resident and we believe he is an American citizen.
We have not been told any official reports of what has led up to the shooting, but we have seen the video that is circulating on social media.
Our demand today is for those federal agencies that are operating in our city to do so with the same discipline, humanity, and integrity that effective law enforcement in this country demands.
We urge everyone to remain peaceful.
We recognize that there is a lot of anger and a lot of questions around what has happened, but we need people to remain peaceful.
In the area, we have an unlawful assembly at this time.
Minneapolis police have given multiple warnings for the crowd to disperse.
We are asking for people to avoid the area and to leave if you are there.
We have requested mutual aid from the Minnesota State Patrol and from all our local and county regional partners.
We ask everyone to remain calm and to please do not destroy our own city.
I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death.
How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?
How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?
How many times must local and national leaders must plead with you, Donald Trump, to end this operation and recognize that this is not creating safety in our city?
As you'll hear from Director Sayre in just a second, we have seen these kinds of operations in other places, in other countries, but not here in America.
Not in a way where a great American city is being invaded by its own federal government.
I'm done being told that our community members are responsible for the vitriol in our streets.
I'm done being told that our local elected officials are solely responsible for turning down the temperature.
Just yesterday, we saw 15,000 people peacefully protesting in the streets, speaking out, standing up for their neighbors.
Not a single broken window, not a single injury.
Those peaceful protests embody the very principles that both Minneapolis and America was founded upon.
Conversely, the mass militarized force and unidentified agents who are occupying our streets, that is what weakens our country.
That is what erodes trust in both law enforcement and in democracy itself.
So to everyone listening, stand with Minneapolis.
Stand up for America.
Recognize that your children will ask you what side you were on.
Your grandchildren will ask you what you did to act to prevent this from happening again.
To make sure that the foundational elements of our democracy were rock solid.
What did you do to protect your city?
What did you do to protect your nation?
This is not what America is about.
This is not a partisan issue.
This is an American issue.
This administration and everyone involved in this operation should be reflecting.
They should be reflecting right now and asking themselves, what exactly are you accomplishing?
If the goal was to achieve peace and safety, this is doing exactly the opposite.
If the goal was to achieve calm and prosperity, this is doing exactly the opposite.
Are you standing up for American families right now, or are we tearing them apart?
The invasion of these heavily armed mask agents roaming around on our streets of Minneapolis emboldened with a sense of impunity.
It has to end.
This is not how it has to be.
So to President Trump, this is a moment to act like a leader.
Put Minneapolis, Put America first in this moment.
Let's achieve peace.
Let's end this operation, and I'm telling you, our city will come back.
Safety will be restored.
We're asking for you to take action now to remove these federal agents.
director sayer my name is rachel sayer and i am the director of the emergency management department for the city of minneapolis I took this job to keep us safe because I live here, and this is my community.
We are doing everything we can to mitigate the impacts of this terrible situation.
The city's emergency operations center continues to be activated, as it has throughout the surge and federal agents over the last few weeks.
We are tracking impacts and coordinating the city's response to this situation, which is having profound repercussions in our community.
I can't underscore enough how much Operation MetroSurge is impacting our city.
Families with loved ones detained and those who are afraid to be in public lest they become targets need help accessing the most basic necessities like food, housing, and rides to school.
Businesses are shuddering and our local economy is severely impacted, which means families are suffering just as we were rounding a corner in our recovery.
Many of our Minneapolis residents, my neighbors, my friends, my community members, are ceasing participation in public life, afraid to even go to the doctor.
In response, the City Enterprise continues to utilize our entire emergency apparatus.
That means staff across departments, often around the clock, are putting their regular jobs on hold in order to respond to the impacts of MetroSurge.
I want everyone to know there are numerous resources available to community members right now.
We have mental health help available.
We have food assistance, housing and rental assistance, legal help.
We are sharing information about what to do if you are exposed to tear gas, pepper spray, or other chemical agents.
And the state AGs and ACLU are collecting reports of rights violations.
You can access these resources on the city's virtual resource center at minneapolismn.gov/slash ICE.
Please share this information with your neighbors.
We have help and we want you to be able to access that.
My background is in international humanitarian response in conflict zones in Yemen, Haiti, Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine.
What I've seen here is what I've seen there.
A powerful entity violently and intentionally terrorizing people, making them afraid to go outside so they can't earn a living, so that kids are forced out of school.
This has a lasting generational impact.
People can't plan a single day of their lives because they don't know who was around the corner and if their family member or neighbor is about to be taken away.
In these times, you see both the best and the worst.
The worst is the terror and the feeling of helplessness.
The best is, will continue to be our community's response.
The way we are showing up for each other, that is in the absolute worst of times.
We're showing up for each other in the absolute worst of times.
I'll turn it back to the mayor.
Thank you.
We'll open it to questions.
We are seeing an incredible volatile situation unfolding right now around that scene.
Is there any communication right now between local federal law enforcement or cooperation or where do those efforts stand to try to calm what's going on down there right now?
All right, we're just listening live to the mayor and the police chief.
And who was that at the end there?
And then we have Rachel Sayers.
She's the director of emergency management for Hennepin County.
Try to explain the resources that are available to folks out there who need it.
And they addressed the public about two hours ago.
We've heard from state and federal officials.
We're expecting another news conference with federal official or state officials here shortly.
But just to recap just what has happened, if you're just joining us at 9 o'clock this morning, a report of an agent involved shooting at East 26th Street and Nicolette, an adult male shot multiple times.
And we've learned through Chief Brian O'Hara and local authorities that it was a 37-year-old male Minneapolis resident, U.S. citizen, the Associated Press identifying him as 37-year-old Alex Predty, an ICU nurse.
And a couple of announcements too, due to what's happened and the amount of people downtown right now, the Wolves game that was scheduled for this afternoon has now been moved to Sunday.
Also Twins Fest, which was going on today, is shutting down.
So impacting different events and different locations today.
I know some of the businesses in and around 26th and Nicola that were supposed to be open today are not.
So just a lot of impact, a lot of disruption in the area there.
We're learning from our crews out in the field that the crowds are building somewhat.
We've heard from our police chief and governor saying that they really want people to urge caution, stay away from the area, peacefully protest.
They need, they're asking for the public's health help in order to do their job.
So they're asking for peaceful demonstrations today.
But we are hearing from our crews in the field that the crowds are growing.
They're growing and there's no law enforcement presence.
Right, because they say they're pulling their resources.
They said the federal officials left the area and then local and state law enforcement also left that area when they felt like they could not secure it anymore.
So that is the situation in South Minneapolis right now.
There's a number of video clips that are being shared online as you can imagine in a situation like this about what happened and I want to stress that this is still very much under investigation and that it is very difficult to tell in a lot of the clips what is happening and we don't know if the ICE agents had body cameras on them but we have received again two very different narratives from the federal officials involved and state and local officials.
You know it was actually a Border Patrol agent who fired the shot not ICE and I've seen Border Patrol agents that do have body cameras on so it's ICE agents typically don't but I believe Border Patrol does often wear body cameras.
We don't know if they were in this case and as you mentioned there's so many angles with the different videos but what we can't see is into that huddle into that grouping when they're struggling with who we now know is Alex Pretty who's on the ground.
We can't see in there what's happening and like you said two very different narratives.
DHS, of course, saying that the man was armed and they collected this, recovered this nine-millimeter handgun with two magazines.
But we don't know if he pulled it out.
Did he point it?
Did anything actually go on with that gun?
Or did they recover it after the fact?
Right, and Greg Bovino, who addressed the public a short time ago, only took two questions from the media and would not answer when that gun was pulled out, if it was pulled out.
And so, really, just limited what he was going to answer at the time.
But the federal officials are saying that this man approached with a gun, attempted, they attempted to disarm him, and they're saying he violently resisted.
The chief of police saying that there's no official report on what led up to this.
Reasonable Perception Of Threat 00:08:37
We know from some videos that this 37-year-old man was in the area of Gland Valle Donuts in the streets and had a cell phone out recording.
But then we're not sure what led up to the interaction at that moment between agents and the people that he appeared to be with.
Right, he seems to be in the street, kind of waving a car through.
Why, I don't really know.
I think we have a picture of the man who was shot and killed.
That is Alex Pretty, the man who's been identified as an ICU nurse who was shot and killed.
The mayor saying he did have a permit to carry that weapon, or at least a weapon.
But that is the man who has now been identified by his family as Alex Pritty, who was deceased after this morning's shooting by Border Patrol there at 26th and Nicholas.
And we do have available on Zoom right now Rob Dorr, the president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center, to talk about use of force issues and his assessment of some of these cases that we have been following.
Rob, thank you so much for joining us.
This is now the third agent, federal agent-involved shooting in Minneapolis as a result of Operation Metro surge.
We had Renee Good January 7th.
There was a man that ICE says they were trying to detain from Venezuela on January 14th, and then this one this morning.
So if you could first just, I know there's a lot of videos circulating.
It's hard to draw conclusions because we don't see what was happening 15 minutes before this or what was happening right in the middle of that huddle.
But what are your impressions of this situation so far?
Yeah, you know, initially I was kind of a little bit of skepticism seeing the DHS's initial statement that they made because they said that the person approached them with a firearm.
They didn't say that the firearm was drawn or that threatened officers or anything like that, just that he had a firearm.
And now every video that we angle that we've seen seems to indicate that there was no visible firearm at that point.
So it's uncertain why there would have been any perception of a threat there.
And then, you know, it's very difficult to see what happens in that huddle.
But one of the most recent clips that I've seen seems to indicate that prior to the shots being fired, one of the agents who, you know, didn't have a firearm in his hand, reaches into the huddle, pulls out a firearm, and it matches the photo that DHS put out this morning perfectly.
So my take of it is it looks like he was actually disarmed prior to the fatal shots being fired.
Wow, and as you said, there's a lot of angles, and it's hard to tell in that no, like at what point did they see the weapon?
Is you know, from what you can tell, any sign that the man on the ground was reaching for his weapon when it was pulled away, anything like that?
Hard to see in there, I know.
Yeah, you know, the newest video angle that I've seen, it looks like it's got the facing towards the man.
Yeah, it's this video right here.
And you see his arms are kind of pinned right in front of him as he's on the ground.
And then it, you know, then you see the agent in the gray coat there, who doesn't have a firearm in his hand, reach around and pull out a firearm.
So right here, you see it looks like the man's, I think Mr. Priti's arms are pinned down in front of him.
So he's not reaching for his hot firearm.
Both hands are right there.
You know, it's difficult to see what happens right in this second here, but we do see that the agent comes back with the firearm in his hand.
That firearm matches the firearm that was photographed by DHS saying that it was Mr. Priti's firearm.
And then that's when you hear the shots fired.
Do you know it's been often said that there really only has to be the fear a police officer or an agent needs to fear for his life or the lives of his coworkers, the people with him.
But what is the threshold?
I don't know if you know that answer.
What is the threshold or, you know, where that's reasonable?
So it's reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm.
So they have to have a reasonable, I mean, based off of the circumstances, what would another person in that situation perceive it?
You can't have an unreasonable fear, but it has to be reasonable for the circumstances.
And, you know, barring any more information, it seems like there's at least it's questionable whether or not a person who has been disarmed was capable of producing that deadly fear for police officers.
Right.
We're speaking with Rob Dorr, the president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center.
We just want to make sure that we're reminding people who you are, what you represent, and that you are also a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment.
So what are you thinking in terms of what the public needs to understand?
Because I think there is an inclination to jump to conclusions.
This is a very volatile time that we're living in, and videos are being shared the moment after something happens.
And so what would you say in terms of investigating a situation like this?
What does the public need to remember as all of this information is coming in so quickly?
Yeah, I think in the first 24 hours, the information we get isn't always the most accurate.
I think initial reports was this man was a 51-year-old man.
So things develop quickly.
And so I think it's always good for people to absorb information, but keep it with a certain amount of skepticism.
But then also, there are some things that are just objectively true that we can look at.
Like, for example, if he has a permit to carry, it's not unlawful to be carrying while you're exercising your First Amendment.
You don't have to pick between which rights you exercise.
It's not a crime to be near police officers.
It's not a crime to be in a protest with a firearm.
The crime comes when you actually take that firearm and cause somebody to be in fear of death or great bodily harm or otherwise threaten them.
That's the crime.
So I think there are things that are objectively true, but then also things that are open to interpretation.
And those tend to develop, especially as time moves on after the first 24 hours.
And Rob, one of the questions I see that keeps coming up, you just mentioned that it's not illegal for somebody to be armed to be near police officers.
But is there a reasonable distance that protesters should be keeping from armed federal agents or any police officers in terms of a protest or somebody who is anti the reason they're there?
What is that reasonable distance?
Yeah, there's not like a hard set number.
Generally, wherever you're lawfully allowed to be, you're free to protest there.
So that's generally, you know, sidewalks, you know, public squares, things like that.
You're not allowed to block roadways during protesting.
You know, that is something that does happen commonly.
So, you know, you have to be mindful of that.
And then ultimately, the courts have held that the government does have the authority to declare an assembly unlawful, and you are required to disperse at that point.
Rob, what are your thoughts in terms of investigating matters like this, all three of these agent-involved shootings?
Do you want to see state officials be part of that investigation as well?
Absolutely.
I think that's really the only way that we could have any sort of reasonable comfort that there's transparency going on.
I'm always hesitant when the government says that they're investigating themselves because more often than not, they find that they did nothing wrong.
So it's always better to have an extra set of eyes, to have somebody who's detached from the command structure that doesn't have a vested interest in the particular person.
When there's officer-involved shootings in Minnesota, it's not the agency that the officer worked for that does the investigation, it's the BCA.
And prior to that, it used to be an outside agency that would conduct that investigation because we value that transparency and that outside look to make sure that the officers' actions were objectively reasonable.
Okay.
Yeah, one more question, Rob, before we let you go, and we may ask for a little bit of time later today, too, as more information comes in on this.
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