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Pretti reportedly started shouting at the officers and blowing a whistle in an attempt to draw attention and interfere. Federal agents then moved to restrain him.
The source told CNN that Pretti was taken to the ground by five agents and that one officer leaned on his back during the struggle. It was during this encounter that Pretti sustained the rib injury.
The ICU nurse was released at the scene and did not require immediate hospitalization, but the encounter was serious enough to leave him shaken.
The source said Pretti “thought he was going to die.”
Federal Monitoring of Protest Activity
Documents obtained by CNN shed further light on how federal officers were operating in Minneapolis amid escalating protests and interference with immigration enforcement.
According to the documents, agents deployed to the area earlier this month were instructed to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors.”
Those instructions suggest federal authorities were preparing for organized resistance to ICE operations and were actively documenting individuals who repeatedly disrupted enforcement actions.
While it remains unclear exactly when Pretti was first documented by federal agents, CNN reported that officers are believed to have retained information related to him following the earlier confrontation.
This directly contradicts claims that Pretti was unknown to law enforcement or randomly targeted during the later incident.
Fatal Confrontation One Week Later
Just one week after the earlier encounter, Pretti was involved in another confrontation with federal agents in Minneapolis. This time, the situation turned deadly.
Pretti was shot and killed during a struggle with a Border Patrol agent on Saturday. Federal officials have stated that the incident unfolded rapidly and involved physical resistance.
Video footage released after the shooting appears to show Pretti instigating the encounter, grabbing another individual, and resisting officers before gunfire erupted. Authorities have also stated that Pretti was armed during the struggle.
Despite these facts, activists and sympathetic media outlets quickly portrayed the incident as an unjustified killing, omitting the prior encounter and the documented pattern of interference.
A Pattern Comes Into Focus
The newly revealed details paint a far different picture than the one initially pushed by activist groups.
Rather than an unsuspecting civilian, Pretti now appears to have been a repeat disruptor who repeatedly placed himself in dangerous confrontations with federal law enforcement.
His actions during previous operations were reportedly serious enough to warrant documentation and monitoring by agents tasked with maintaining control during volatile enforcement efforts.
As investigations continue, the focus is shifting toward whether repeated interference escalated tensions and contributed to the tragic outcome.
Federal officials have emphasized that immigration enforcement agents are operating in increasingly hostile environments, often facing organized resistance that places both officers and civilians at risk.
The case underscores the real dangers of interfering with law enforcement operations and the consequences that can follow when confrontations escalate beyond control.
More information is expected to be released as federal reviews proceed and body camera footage continues to be analyzed.
