The ICU nurse who was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents on Saturday reportedly broke his rib during a prior interaction with federal officers about a week before his death.
Sources told CNN that federal immigration authorities had documented information about Alex Pretti, 37, before he was killed on Saturday, as part of an effort to collect personal and identifying details about anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis.
The sources told the outlet that Pretti had sustained a broken rib around a week before his death after a group of five federal agents tackled him to the ground while he was protesting.
A DHS spokesperson told the Daily Beast that “DHS law enforcement has no record of this incident.”
One source, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told CNN that Pretti said he had witnessed ICE agents chasing a family on foot, and exited his car to shout and blow his whistle to alert neighbors.
They said that Pretti later told them he was tackled by five agents, one of whom leaned on his back, which broke his rib.
“That day, he thought he was going to die,” the source added.
CNN said they reviewed records that showed Pretti was given medication consistent with treatment for a broken rib.
Video of Pretti’s death shows that he had been recording federal officers on the street when they shoved a woman to the ground.
Pretti, who had been legally carrying a 9mm handgun but did not brandish it, inserted himself between the woman and the officers. Multiple agents tackled him to the ground, disarmed him, and shot him numerous times, killing him.
A memo sent earlier this month by a DHS official in Minneapolis to agents temporarily assigned to the city instructed them to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form,” the outlet reported.
Agents could fill out the intake form, titled “intel collection non-arrests,” with personal information of the protesters they encounter. A source told CNN that federal agents were aware of Pretti’s name, but it’s not clear whether the intake form was used to document his information.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar who was dispatched to Minneapolis on Monday to ease tensions after Pretti’s shooting, has previously hinted at creating a database for protesters.
“We’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding, and assault, we’re going to make them famous,” Homan told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Jan. 16. “We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”
