WASHINGTON — The woman whose phone captured one of the most consequential videos of the year told Congress this week she kept recording even as she was terrified — because someone had to bear witness.
Stella Carlson, the bystander who filmed the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis, testified Tuesday, Sept. 22, at a congressional spotlight forum examining fatal shootings by federal immigration agents, titled "Our Values at Stake (Part V): Deaths, Deception, and a Failure of Accountability at DHS." The forum was led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) questioning the witnesses.
"On the morning of Saturday, Jan. 24, I was getting ready to go to work in Minneapolis. I was supposed to be at a church community gathering, face painting children for three hours. And then I heard the whistles," Carlson testified.
"Although I was terrified, in that moment, I knew that I had to keep recording and to bear witness. I knew that I could not look away. And so have so many other people in my community throughout Metro Surge and sadly in a growing list of places from California and Illinois to Texas and Maine and beyond."
Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by CBP agents on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 during Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration enforcement operation. He was shot at least 10 times.
The Department of Homeland Security described Pretti as a domestic terrorist who approached officers with a handgun. But Carlson's video became a key piece of evidence challenging that account — independent visual analysis of the bystander footage showed Pretti holding a cellphone in the moments before agents pushed him, according to reporting on the forum. Pretti's family has also pointed to bystander video to dispute the administration's account, telling reporters that difficulty getting information from federal agencies in the hours after the killing compounded their grief.
"The truth does not become less true because someone with great power tells a louder lie," Carlson told the forum.
Carlson testified alongside Donna Ganger and Brent Ganger — the mother and brother of Renee Good, the 37-year-old Minneapolis woman and mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 7 while sitting in her car on Portland Avenue South. City officials said Good was a legal observer of immigration enforcement and was not a target for arrest.
The Gangers demanded a full investigation and accountability, with Donna Ganger — a registered Republican who voted for President Donald Trump — telling lawmakers: "Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action. We need accountability."
According to reporting on the forum, speakers pressed for the identities of the agents who fired, criticized anonymity protections for federal officers, and said investigative reports and footage have been withheld from grieving families.
According to the Midway Como Frogtown Monitor, for six months after the shootings, the FBI and Department of Justice prevented state and local law enforcement from investigating, and the Monitor reports there has been no reported material progress on the federal investigations.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who also heard the witnesses' testimony, thanked them and said accountability should not be partisan.
"How do you move forward when there hasn't been accountability for these crimes, and when there isn't some sense that these agents going forward are going to be held accountable?" Smith said. "Accountability and a free and fair investigation might be partisan issues inside this building, they are not partisan issues out in the country."
Republican lawmakers were invited to the forum but none attended, according to coverage of the event. The forum also included relatives and witnesses connected to other fatal encounters involving federal immigration officers.
- National Correspondent Network
