
Warning: This episode contains strong language. Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a Minneapolis resident, on Saturday. It was the second fatal shooting by federal agents in the city during protests against a ramped-up immigration enforcement effort by the Trump administration. Devon Lum, from the Visual Investigations team, and Ernesto Londoño, who covers the Midwest, explain how the shooting unfolded and what may come next.
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Rachel Abrams
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Everyone wants to know.
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So here it is this Friday.
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Being the first lady requires managing many obligations.
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Witness history in the making.
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I did not.
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Yeah, I will see it on the news.
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Ernesto Londono
From the New York Times. I'm Rachel Abrams and this is the Daily. What the fuck did you just do? What the fuck did you just do? Outrage and protests in Minneapolis after federal agents shoot and kill a man today. Border Patrol agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Saturday. The second fatal clash between federal authorities and protesters in less than a month. You murder. How dare you. Eyewitness video shows once again, reckless, violent and dangerous federal agents taking the life of a Minnesotan. If it can happen here, it can happen in your community, too. The shooting prompted a fresh wave of fury and condemnation across the country.
Devin Lum
How many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?
Ernesto Londono
And it horrified residents in a city that has been revolting against a federal government crackdown on immigration. This individual, who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers, committed an act of domestic terrorism. That's the facts.
Rachel Abrams
No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines. That is not a peaceful protest. And you do not get to touch law enforcement.
Ernesto Londono
Federal officials alleged that the protester was the aggressor and that the agents acted in self defense. They just saw somebody. But videos of the shooting directly contradict that claim. Today we talked to our colleagues Devin Lum and Ernesto Londono about how the shooting unfolded and what may come next. It's Monday, january 26th. Devin, welcome to the Daily.
Devin Lum
Thanks for having me.
Ernesto Londono
So, Devin, by now, I think a lot of people have seen this really graphic footage of a man named Alex Preddy getting shot by federal agents in Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security claims that Preddy was approaching these agents with a handgun, that he was intent on committing what they called, quote, a massacre. You are a member of our Visual Investigations team, which means that you have been spending a lot of time analyzing footage from this shooting, from the scene. So what do you make of the government's claims?
Devin Lum
We've been analyzing footage from various different angles over the past day and a half, trying to better understand what took place before, during and after the shooting. You know, there is contention over what happened between the federal government and the state government. And we're doing our best to resolve that contention by walking through the visual evidence as clearly and as in depth as we possibly can. And the one thing that's blatantly clear in our analysis that contrasts with the narrative that the administration put out there in the immediate aftermath of the shooting is that Preddy was not holding a gun when he began interacting with the federal agents or throughout the entirety of their interaction. Instead, he's holding a cell phone.
Ernesto Londono
And can you just set the scene? Devin, at the beginning of the footage that you've been analyzing, what do we see? What's going on?
Devin Lum
The footage begins with two protesters interacting with the federal agent on a street in Minneapolis in front of a donut shop. We can see that Preddy is walking into the street with his outstretched arm holding his cell phone, recording the interaction. He appears to be an observer in this moment. He's standing, you know, further away from where that interaction is taking place and appears to be directing traffic with his free hand.
Ernesto Londono
And how do things escalate from there?
Devin Lum
The agent who is interacting with the two protesters standing in the street begins to push the protesters in the direction of Mr. Preddy, and eventually they make their way towards where he's standing. So before I get into the details, I just want to say that these next moments happen very quickly. From the time that things started to escalate until the final shot is fired. Just over 40 seconds elapse.
Rachel Abrams
Wow.
Devin Lum
Once they get there, the agent pushes one of the protesters to the ground, and Alex Preddy steps in between the agent and the woman who has just been pushed to the ground. The agent begins firing pepper spray at him. In that moment, we can see that he's still holding his cell phone and his other hand is still free. Then Alex Preddy turns around to apparently try to help the woman who's been pushed to the ground up to her feet, and the agent continues firing pepper spray at both of them. Several agents appear behind Mr. Freddy and begin pulling him in order to get him down to the ground. Once he's down on the ground, several other agents are holding him down. They're grabbing at his legs. They're pushing him in his back, and they appear to be striking him repetitively. Another agent walks towards the scrum and reaches toward Alex Preddy with open hands. It's unclear at that moment why he's grabbing at him, but a few seconds later, we hear someone saying, he's got a gun. Over and over again, they say it Repetitively.
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Mm.
Ernesto Londono
Meaning that they might not have realized that he had a gun until that moment when he's on the ground.
Devin Lum
Exactly. And again, looking back at the footage from any point of the interaction up until now, there is no visual giveaway that would indicate that agents knew that he was armed.
Ernesto Londono
So what happens next? How does the scene unfold from there? Once he's restrained and on the ground.
Devin Lum
The agent who reached into the scrum with open hands grabs a firearm from Alex Preddy's waist. Then, about one second after Preddy's gun has been removed, another agent fires the first shot.
Ernesto Londono
So he can see the other agent taking the gun out of the holster.
Devin Lum
We're not exactly sure what he's seeing at this point because it's a very split second, but in the video, it appears he has a clear vantage point of the disarming as it's happening.
Ernesto Londono
So at this point, just to be clear, one agent has removed the gun, has backed away from Alex Preddy, and that's when we hear the first shot that was fired.
Devin Lum
Yes, the gun that was apparently removed from Alex Preddy's hip is away from the pile before the first shot is fired. And after that first shot is fired, Preddy appears to get up onto his knees, and his hands, which were bunched up near his head, move down towards his sides. The agent fires three more times, and Preddy begins to fall to the ground. He reaches down with his left hand while falling, apparently to brace himself, and there does not appear to be weapons in either of his hands. Then the agent who initially pepper sprayed Preddy joins in, and the two of them fire six more shots at Preddy's disarmed body, which is, at this point, laying motionless on the ground. In total, they appear to fire 10.
Rachel Abrams
Shots in five seconds.
Devin Lum
We can hear in later footage that as agents are searching Alex Preddy's body after he's already been shot, One agent yells, where's the gun? Where's the gun? So, clearly, not all of the agents know that Alex Preddy had already been disarmed.
Ernesto Londono
You know, given the fact that the first shot was fired only about a second after Preddy's gun was removed. And even though the agent who shot Alex Preddy might have been able to see that the gun had been unholstered, it all is happening so fast that you can't know for sure whether he definitely knew that when he was firing.
Devin Lum
Well, sure, it's. It's difficult to know what the agent who fired saw or knew when he fired. Other than that there Was a gun present?
Dan Barry
Mm.
Devin Lum
But what we do know is that Alex Preddy was very clearly subdued on the ground. He was being held down, and his arms were by his head. And again, the agent was standing behind Preddy. He was aiming at his back. So he presented no clear threat to the agents at that point. But I want to stress that the statement that is being made by the Department of Homeland Security is that Preddy approached an agent with a gun.
Ernesto Londono
Right.
Devin Lum
It's true he was armed with a gun, but the videos show he was not holding it in his hand throughout the entire interaction with the agents. The Department of Homeland Security also said the agent fired out of concern for the agent's safety. So if we're looking at the footage and we're assessing whether or not there's a concern for safety, we can see that Preddy is on the ground, he's being subdued, and even if there's a gun on his hip at one point, he can't reach it. Said the response to shoot him, to pull out a firearm and shoot him, rather than taking a beat to understand whether another agent, one of your colleagues, has disarmed the person you're about to shoot. It just doesn't comport with what the Department of Homeland Security is saying.
Ernesto Londono
You know, we talked to our colleague Charles Homans on the show about a week ago. He described at that point what felt almost like a lull, in the sense that it had been a few days since a federal agent had shot Renee Goode. Obviously, people had taken to the streets, were outraged, but it felt also like ICE was operating a little bit less visibly. And I think it was kind of an open question at that time whether things would escalate or would deescalate. And it feels really notable that here we are just a few days later, reacting to another fatal shooting.
Devin Lum
Yes, this is the second shooting in less than a month that's been carried out by federal agents in Minneapolis, where the footage that we've analyzed has conflicted with statements that have been made by the Department of Homeland Security about what took place. Tensions are already high online around the country and on the ground in Minneapolis, and this is sure to inflame them further.
Ernesto Londono
Devin Lum, thank you so much.
Devin Lum
Thanks for having me.
Ernesto Londono
We'll be right back.
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Ernesto Londono
Ernesto, hi.
Rachel Abrams
Hi, Rachel.
Ernesto Londono
I wonder, Ernesto, could you just tell us what it's been like on the ground in the hours since Alex Preddy was shot?
Rachel Abrams
I think this is a city where people are shell shocked. Ever since this immigration crackdown began late last month, there's been sort of a sense that things are escalating in a way that feels unsustainable. And Saturday morning, a second individual was killed by federal agents. In both cases, these were American citizens who had decided to take to the streets to monitor and to challenge the work of immigration agents. And in both cases, they were gunned down. And I think people both in local government, but just residents, have been trying desperately to find an off ramp from a situation they think is really dangerous.
Ernesto Londono
Can you talk about what we know about Alex Peretti as of now?
Rachel Abrams
Yes. We know that he was a nurse at the VA locally. We are told that he cared deeply for his patients and that he was a beloved member of his Community. We know that he carried a weapon and that he was allowed to be a gun owner and that he was armed when this occurred. We know he had no criminal record, and, you know, he was a federal employee. So I don't think we've seen any evidence to suggest that he was a violent person. But we're only, you know, about 24 hours into this, so I think there's a lot we will learn in the hours and days ahead.
Ernesto Londono
What do we know about what Border Patrol was doing at the scene at that moment? Do we know anything about who they were trying to apprehend, for instance?
Rachel Abrams
So what we heard is that the Border Patrol agents were trying to find a specific guy, an immigrant from Ecuador, that they portrayed as somebody with a very significant criminal history, somebody who was violent. And what the Trump administration is saying is any effort of people impeding the work of these agents is unconscionable because they're just here to impose order and to keep people and neighborhoods safe. However, just hours after the shooting, you had the Minnesota Department of Corrections, which runs the prison system, come out and say, hey, we looked into this matter. We looked into court records. We can't find evidence that this individual has anything beyond some misdemeanor traffic citations. So, you know, essentially, the state is pouring cold water on the genesis of the operation that led to this killing.
Ernesto Londono
If the shooting had been done by local authorities, you could imagine and predict sort of what would happen next. Just in terms of an investigation into the use of force, the shooting obviously happened by a Border Patrol agent. So I wonder, how would it normally work in the aftermath of this kind of a thing? What would you normally expect, and what do we know about what is happening now?
Rachel Abrams
So the way this has been handled in the past, for instance, when there was a US Marshal who used deadly force here a few years ago, is the federal government. The Department of Justice and its Office of Civil Rights partners quickly with the state agency that has the most expertise in use of force cases, and they collect and review evidence jointly, trying to make sense of whether the officer, when he or she used deadly force, had a credible fear that that was the only means to remain safe in the face of a dire threat to the agent or to others around them. These videos that have emerged to date, you know, while really providing us considerable amount of insight into what happened in that moment, are only part of the story. And usually when this kind of investigation is conducted, you try to get more video of what was happening, you know, minutes before this. You try to get witness accounts of what was being said, you know, as part of this exchange. So typically, it takes weeks, if not months, for investigators to assemble a complete and conclusive picture that allows them to decide whether or not a prosecution is warranted. What you saw in the immediate aftermath of the initial shooting early this month, the shooting of Renee Goode, is that top officials in the Trump administration said that the state agency was being cut off of the investigation. This was highly anomalous for these kind of shootings, and it immediately created a concern among local officials that there was going to be a cover up, that we weren't going to get a proper and thorough investigation. So what the local prosecutor in Hennepin county, which includes Minneapolis, did was in the absence of sort of the ability of gathering firsthand evidence, forensic evidence and witness testimony from the kind of people that would normally be involved in this kind of an investigation, she created an online portal and asked people out in the community to submit videos and any other evidence that might help her office establish whether or not a crime occurred and whether or not there's enough evidence to bring charges against the agents.
Ernesto Londono
That sounds extremely unusual.
Rachel Abrams
To call this unusual would be the understatement of the decade. And fast forward a couple of weeks when we have this second fatal shooting on Saturday. At the outset, local and state officials who ran to the scene to try to preserve and examine evidence were physically blocked from getting there. And as of this moment, they don't even know the identity of the federal agents who opened fire. So something as basic as knowing who it is you're investigating is going to make any prosecution or any investigation that people regard as credible and satisfying really, really hard.
Ernesto Londono
And in the meantime, of course, you already have federal officials coming out and making conclusions as though an investigation has already been conducted. You have Kash Patel and you have Kristi Noem saying, this guy was a menace. He had a gun, he was threatening agents. So while an investigation is still pending, you already have federal officials, much like in the aftermath of Renee Goode, coming out and basically stating what happened as if we know for certain.
Rachel Abrams
Absolutely. And usually there's an appeal for calm and patience in the wake of these kind of incidents, which are so traumatic for communities. What we've seen in the case is the opposite. We've seen federal officials use really incendiary and jarring language to describe the conduct of people who have been observing, documenting, and challenging the work of immigration agents. They've characterized some of these people as domestic terrorists. And the Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the governor, Tim Walls, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Fry, the mayor of St. Paul, who just got inaugurated a few days ago, the attorney general and the top prosecutor in Minneapolis. And the contention is that all these Democratic elected officials have been speaking in ways that the federal government deems dangerous for their immigration enforcement operation because they've been resisting it and criticizing it and challenging it.
Ernesto Londono
Is there any evidence that local law enforcement is, in fact, obstructing or interfering with federal officials in their deportation efforts?
Rachel Abrams
No. It's important to point out that the city of Minneapolis and the city of St. Paul, they have chosen not to cooperate with civil immigration enforcement, meaning police officers in these cities do not ask residents about their immigration status. However, when it comes to people who are in jails and prisons, the state says that they cooperate routinely in facilitating a seamless and practical handover of individuals who are subject to deportation, who are about to be released either from state prisons because they've completed their sentence or from jails. So local officials say the sense that Minnesota is this kind of radical sanctuary state where people who are here legally are essentially shielded by the local government is blatantly false.
Ernesto Londono
Can you walk us through how state officials are responding? People like Tim Waltz, Mayor Jacob Fry, Senator Amy Klobuchar. What are they saying? And how has any of that rhetoric shifted since the first shooting?
Rachel Abrams
They are suing the administration, trying to see if a judge orders the administration to put an end to the immigration crackdown. And Saturday shooting led Governor Walsh to deploy the National Guard, because I think he and people in his administration feel that this city could once again blow up the way we saw in the wake of George Floyd's killing in 2020.
Ernesto Londono
So I want to talk about the broader political response for a moment. Are there other options that elected officials both in Minnesota and beyond, are considering right now?
Rachel Abrams
Federal lawmakers from Minnesota appear to be in lockstep, thinking that maybe the only way to shut this down or to use one of the few levers of power they have over the Trump administration, is the threat of withholding funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The question, though, you know, considering the fact that Republicans are in control of both chambers and Capitol Hill, is whether you could have enough Republicans peel off and agree with Democrats. And while I think we're starting to see glimmers of Republicans signaling discomfort, it's far from clear whether you'd have enough votes and enough opposition to really make a difference.
Ernesto Londono
Polls in this country show that most people are supportive of the Trump administration's stated goals of dealing with immigration. By closing the Border enforcing, deportations of people who are here illegally. But a majority of Americans think that ICE has gone too far in its tactics. And in recent weeks, since the killing of Renee Goode, you have started to see, and here, people who have traditionally been supportive of the administration really question these policies. You had Joe Rogan basically compare ICE to the Gestapo. You had Maria Bartiromo pushing Cash Patel on television about what kind of threat Alex Preddy could have possibly posed given the fact that he was holding a camera and not a gun. And so while it's incredibly hard to speculate, of course, about what comes next, I do wonder if the second killing feels like in any way a tipping point to you right now.
Rachel Abrams
I think the videos in this case are singularly horrifying. I also think, just based on the kind of emails that have been streaming into my inbox over the past 24 hours, that we remain a deeply divided country on the question of immigration and on the merits of a really draconian response to the problem of illegal immigration. There are people for whom these actions are not justified but welcome. There are many people who have written to me to say these people in Minneapolis who got gunned down had it coming. They shouldn't have been interfering with the work of immigration agents. And let this be a lesson to other people who would want to challenge what they're doing Right. I think one of the things that is really interesting about the two individuals whose lives were lost is on some level, they're like deeply sympathetic figures. This woman was a mother of three and a poet, and the second victim was a nurse who worked and took care of veterans. So it feels hard, I think, for the average American to take this assertion that these two people who were gunned down and brought daylight fit the description of a domestic terrorist. So I think the key question is what happens to the segment of the electorate that is more moderate on these issues, that is more persuadable, and for whom these really searing images and videos are going to push them into the camp of thinking this has gone too far and that on some level, the administration needs to be reined in.
Ernesto Londono
Ernesto, thank you so much.
Rachel Abrams
Thank you.
Ernesto Londono
We'll be right back.
Dan Barry
I'm Dan Barry, and I'm a longtime reporter with the New York Times. I've been here for 30 years, and I've seen a lot of things change. I was here before there was a website. But one thing hasn't changed at all, and that's the mission of the New York Times, to follow the facts wherever they lead. And if that means publishing something a government or a leader or a celebrity doesn't want aired. That's not our concern. I have never been told to go against the facts to accommodate anyone, and if I had, I would have quite frankly left the building. This is the way it was when I was covering the aftermath of 9 11, and this is the way it is now as I cover the United States of today. If you believe in the importance of fact driven reporting, you can support it by becoming a New York Times subscriber. And if you already subscribe, this veteran reporter thanks you.
Ernesto Londono
Here's what else you need to know today. A dangerous winter storm pummeled much of the eastern United States on Sunday, shattering temperature records, knocking out power to more than a million homes and businesses and wreaking havoc on daily life from Mississippi to Massachusetts. Five people were found dead in New York City over the weekend and officials were investigating whether they died because of the cold. One person died of exposure in Austin, Texas, while the Louisiana Department of Health said two men had died of hypothermia and Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Democrat of Florida, was hit in the face by a man who told the lawmaker that he would be deported at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah over the weekend. The police said they responded to reports of an assault at the High West Saloon, a whiskey distillery and bar where a private party was being held. The attacker, quote, told me that Trump was going to deport me before he punched me in the face, said Mr. Frost, whose family moved from Cuba to Florida in the early 1960s in a social media post. Today's episode was produced by diana wynn and nina feldman. It was edited by liz o' ballin and lisa chow. Contains music by pat mccusker, rowan nie misto, dan powell and diane wong and was engineered by chris w. That's it for the Daily. I'm Rachel Abrams. See you tomorrow.
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Date: January 26, 2026
Hosts: Rachel Abrams, Ernesto Londono
Guests/Reporters: Devin Lum (Visual Investigations), Rachel Abrams (reporting), with mentions of Charles Homans and Dan Barry
This episode examines the shooting death of Alex Preddy by federal Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis—the second fatal encounter between federal authorities and local protesters in under a month. Through eyewitness video, expert analysis, and on-the-ground reporting, the episode unpacks the government’s conflicting narratives, explores the incident’s rapid escalation, and discusses the broader political and social ramifications for Minnesota and beyond.
Devin Lum (Visual Investigations):
Memorable Quote:
Devin Lum, on the discrepancy in official accounts
“The one thing that's blatantly clear... is that Preddy was not holding a gun when he began interacting with the federal agents or throughout the entirety of their interaction. Instead, he's holding a cell phone.” (03:19)
Mood in Minneapolis: Shock, escalating fear, and a sense of unsustainability in the federal crackdown’s violence (14:03–14:54).
Both shooting victims (Renee Goode and Alex Preddy) were local community members with no records of violence—Preddy was a VA nurse and a federal employee (14:58–15:46).
Dispute Over Federal Actions: The state challenged federal claims about their target (an Ecuadorian immigrant with supposed violent history), finding only minor traffic citations (15:55–16:52).
Breakdown of Accountability:
Federal Rhetoric: Officials like Kash Patel and Kristi Noem characterized protesters as “domestic terrorists.” Contrarily, local officials urge restraint and question DHS’s narrative (20:21–21:51).
Memorable Quote:
Rachel Abrams, on the investigation:
“At the outset, local and state officials who ran to the scene to try to preserve and examine evidence were physically blocked from getting there. And as of this moment, they don't even know the identity of the federal agents who opened fire.” (19:35)
State officials, including Governor Walz and mayors, are suing to halt the federal operation and have deployed the National Guard amid fears of “the city blowing up... the way we saw in the wake of George Floyd's killing in 2020” (23:08–23:37).
Minnesota federal lawmakers are reportedly exploring withholding DHS funding as leverage—though Republican control makes this unlikely (23:47–24:31).
Shifting National Sentiment:
Memorable Quote:
Rachel Abrams:
“There are people for whom these actions are not justified but welcome. There are many people who have written to me... to say these people in Minneapolis... had it coming. They shouldn't have been interfering with the work of immigration agents. And let this be a lesson to other people who would want to challenge what they're doing.” (25:21)
On video evidence contradicting DHS:
On the escalation:
On the use of force:
On investigatory barriers:
On the narrative split and public reaction:
The episode is urgent, meticulous, and at times somber—reflecting both journalistic rigor and the gravity of events. Hosts and reporters maintain a fact-driven, evidence-based approach but allow moments of shock and exasperation to register—especially when institutional process or lives are at stake.
This detailed breakdown captures nearly all major episode themes, narrative developments, and outstanding moments for listeners seeking a deep and nuanced understanding.