Alex Pretti's family calls for joint state, federal investigation into his death
The family of Alex Pretti remains hopeful state and federal investigators can work together to investigate his death.
Federal agents shot and killed him nearly two weeks ago, and the federal government is leading the investigation.
After a contentious start to the investigation into Pretti's death, his family feels true justice starts with the FBI and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension collaborating.
In a new statement on Friday, the family's attorney told WCCO, "Justice and accountability requires a thorough and impartial investigation to establish the facts. A truly joint state and federal investigation would be a welcome development."
However, despite some reports that a collaboration may happen, that development has yet to materialize.
The Pretti family attorney wants the BCA to get access to the names of the two border patrol agents who shot Pretti. Other evidence being held by the FBI includes body camera video from the agents involved and any videos Pretti recorded from his cellphone before and during the deadly encounter.
Nearly two weeks since the shooting, none of that has been released.
In comparison, it took just days to learn the name of the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good, as well as see the cellphone video he recorded during that deadly encounter.
Federal investigators withheld evidence in both cases from the BCA, even physically preventing BCA agents from gathering evidence at the Pretti shooting scene.
"Our team also secured a search warrant for the scene, which is an unusual move in a public area like that, but we did that attempting to have judicial approval to gather evidence. We were once again blocked by federal authorities to go in and do that scene examination," said Drew Evans, BCA superintendent.
Days later, the BCA successfully requested a restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security to prevent it from destroying or altering evidence related to the deadly shooting. A federal judge lifted the order a week later, saying the concerns over evidence tampering were undeveloped.
The FBI on Friday told WCCO it has no updates on a possible joint investigation with the BCA.
A reminder that there is no federal criminal investigation into the killing of Good. Also, because the BCA was blocked from accessing evidence, it is not investigating her case. However, the Hennepin County attorney is investigating both killings.
