WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department has started a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis, a senior official said on Friday.
The department’s investigation could potentially lead to criminal charges against the officers involved, though there is a high legal bar to bring such a case.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the FBI was examining Saturday’s shooting with potential assistance from the department’s Civil Rights Division, which typically plays a leading role in investigations into use of force by law enforcement. He cautioned the review was preliminary and he downplayed its scope.
“This is what I would describe as a standard investigation by the FBI when there’s circumstances like what we saw last Saturday,” Blanche said at a news conference.
Pretti’s shooting by immigration agents has stirred widespread outrage and prompted the Trump administration to de-escalate its immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Local officials have said the administration cannot be trusted and are pursuing their own investigation.
A preliminary review by U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Pretti, 37, was shot by two federal officers, a Border Patrol agent and a customs officer. Pretti was the second protester to be shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis this month.
Video of the encounter verified by Reuters showed Pretti holding a cell phone as he was wrestled to the ground by agents. Video evidence also showed that an officer removed a gun from Pretti’s body shortly before the first shots were fired.
Blanche’s statement followed days of uncertainty over the nature of DOJ’s involvement in the probe.
A Justice Department official told Reuters earlier this week that a criminal civil rights investigation would only begin if warranted by evidence. A DHS official said in a sworn court statement following the shooting that DHS was the lead investigative entity.
The department has so far not opened a criminal civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good, 37, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month. Blanche previously said there was no basis for a criminal probe.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, editing by Andy Sullivan and Diane Craft)
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