Did an agent take Pretti's gun before he was shot?
Executive summary
Multiple independently reviewed bystander videos and contemporaneous news analyses show an agent appears to remove a handgun from Alex Pretti during the scuffle before a barrage of gunfire; eyewitnesses and major outlets report Pretti was holding a cellphone, not a gun, in the moments prior to being tackled, while DHS has said a firearm was recovered and initially described Pretti as the armed aggressor [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. While the visual record supports that an agent left the immediate struggle in possession of a handgun shortly before shots were fired, questions remain about precise timing, who fired first, and whether an agent’s possession of the gun precipitated the fatal shooting — matters that investigators and DHS statements have not definitively resolved in public [3] [5] [6].
1. What the video evidence shows and how multiple outlets interpreted it
Bystander footage captured from several angles has been reviewed by Reuters, The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian and numerous local outlets; those reviews largely conclude Pretti was holding a cellphone—not a firearm—immediately before agents tackled him, and at least one frame sequence appears to show a federal officer removing a handgun from the scuffle and then stepping away with it before a gunshot is heard [1] [3] [4] [7]. News organizations including CNBC and KSTP described footage in which “one agent appears to take a weapon from Pretti and quickly walks away while holding the gun,” with a gunshot audible afterward, and analysts conducted frame-by-frame reviews to reconstruct the sequence [3] [8].
2. Witness testimony aligns with video that Pretti did not brandish a weapon
Sworn affidavits filed in court and multiple witness statements say they never saw Pretti draw or brandish a gun; a woman who filmed the clearest video and a physician who witnessed events both reported Pretti held a phone and did not attack or brandish a weapon before agents subdued him [2] [9]. Local police and independent reporters note consistent imagery: Pretti with a phone raised, an agent shoving another demonstrator, pepper spray deployed, Pretti grabbed and wrestled to the ground, and then gunfire — a chain of events that contradicts early assertions that Pretti approached officers firing or waving a handgun [10] [11] [12].
3. The government’s public account, the photo of a handgun, and the gaps
The Department of Homeland Security publicly stated a firearm and magazines were recovered and described Pretti as armed and approaching officers; DHS also posted an image of a gun it said was linked to the incident [8] [9]. Yet DHS and administration officials made categorical early claims about Pretti’s intent that several outlets and fact-checkers say are not supported by the publicly released videos, and DHS has not provided an evidence timeline reconciling its claims with the bystander footage analysts have reviewed [5] [6].
4. Alternate interpretations and investigatory limits
Administration defenders have suggested agents may have been startled by an accidental discharge or may have perceived a continuing threat even after a weapon appeared in an agent’s custody, and some officials privately called the shooting an inadvertent error by agents “spooked” by a gun’s removal [6]. Conversely, legal observers, use-of-force experts and civil-rights advocates say the videos show protocols were abandoned and deadly force was used while Pretti was pinned and not brandishing a weapon [11] [4]. Public reporting so far cannot definitively state who fired the first fatal shot relative to the moment an agent had a handgun in hand; that precise forensic sequencing has not been made publicly available in the material reviewed here [5].
Conclusion — direct answer
Did an agent take Pretti’s gun before he was shot? The preponderance of independently reviewed video evidence reported by multiple outlets shows an agent appears to remove a handgun from the scuffle and carry it away immediately before the initial gunshot are heard, and witnesses corroborate that Pretti was not seen brandishing a weapon prior to being tackled [3] [1] [2] [4]. However, public records and statements have not yet established a definitive forensic timeline tying that removal to who fired the shots or why other agents then opened fire; those unresolved investigatory points remain central to official probes and to conflicting public narratives [5] [6].