Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s initial declaration that a department agency would oversee the investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti left current and former senior federal law enforcement officials stunned, according to four sources.
A day after Pretti was killed on Jan. 24, when two U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees opened fire on him during an arrest in Minneapolis, Noem stated that her department would lead the federal investigation into the use-of-force incident.
Federal agents who spoke with the Washington Examiner since then said they were baffled by that announcement, given the long-standing protocol that any instance of a weapon being discharged be handled by the FBI, an agency not housed in DHS but rather the Justice Department. While Noem has since said the FBI has taken the lead of the investigation, her early decision to let her own agency handle it in the immediate aftermath of the shooting contributed to tensions within DHS.
“I think it was jumping the gun, because if you look at all prior Border Patrol shootings under her command, a statement has been issued within the hour,” said the first official, a former Border Patrol headquarters operations chief, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity. “You’ve had several Border Patrol agent-involved shootings in the Rio Grande Valley along the border before this chaos [where that was the case].”
Melissa A. Lucio, a retired senior federal law enforcement agent, said the department’s handling of the investigation was a “stark departure” from standard law enforcement protocols, particularly because the incident in question resulted in a death and involved accusations of assault and civil rights violations.
“When these types of incidents occur everything must be brought to light, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It will shed light on whether law, policies were followed and/or actions were right or wrong on all sides. It could also reveal training, policy, and equipment issues that can be improved, added, or deleted,” Lucio wrote in a text message. “These incidents should be investigated by the Department of Justice FBI and Civil Rights division.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Friday that the Justice Department was launching a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting.
In recent years, Border Patrol has adopted a universal response to use-of-force incidents nationwide, though it was not followed in this instance. The top agent in the region where a use-of-force incident has occurred will issue a public statement on social media within hours. The statements are short but confirm that an agent used force, provide a general overview of what happened, and state that an investigation is underway by relevant agencies. The key, the first source said, was acknowledging and confirming the incident, and alerting the public that appropriate law enforcement agencies were investigating it.
Today, USBP agents from RGC Station reported shots fired in Fronton,TX. Thankfully, no injuries to our Agents were reported. The scene remains active at this time. Thank you to all law enforcement & investigative agencies for the immediate response & support! pic.twitter.com/h2MAbOj4zJ
— Jared C. Ashby, Chief Patrol Agent (@USBPChiefRGV) January 28, 2025
Greg Bovino, who was at the time of the shooting the point man for Border Patrol’s at-large operation in Minneapolis, did not post any such update on his social media pages, and DHS immediately took over the public response. Bovino has since left Minneapolis.
Noem said that she would have Homeland Security Investigations, an office within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS agency, handle the investigation of Pretti’s death.
HSI normally assists in investigations related to CBP Office of Field Operations officers involved in use-of-force incidents at ports of entry, which typically involve human or drug smuggling. It was unusual for HSI to be brought into this matter, two sources said. Of the two CBP employees who opened fire on Pretti, one was a Border Patrol agent and the other was an OFO officer.
After Noem faced criticism over how she had described the altercation between federal police and Pretti, whom she had described as a “domestic terrorist,” she said the FBI would take over the investigation.
On Jan. 29, Noem told Fox News host Sean Hannity that the FBI was now the lead investigative agency in the inquiry and that HSI was assisting, but she did not clarify when or why that change had occurred. DHS did not answer a request for comment on the question this week.
“We will continue to follow the investigation that the FBI is leading and giving them all the information that they need to bring that to conclusion, and make sure that the American people know the truth of the situation and how we can go forward and continue to protect the American people,” Noem told Hannity.
The first official said the FBI’s role as the lead investigative agency in DHS-involved shootings is twofold: it investigates any potential crime that led to the use of force, as well as the government employee’s use of force.
Hours after the shooting, Noem called Pretti a domestic terrorist who “approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.”
“This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and kill law enforcement,” Noem said. “The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently.”
The third source questioned Noem’s assessment of Pretti as a domestic terrorist. “Where is the [internal] reporting that he was a known threat, before yesterday?” the official wrote in a text message. “It highlights that the destruction of the chain of command has implications.”
Noem herself appointed Bovino, Border Patrol’s southeastern California chief, to oversee thousands of agents sent to assist ICE inside the country. Noem told Bovino that he would report directly to her, bypassing the chain of command — Border Patrol’s national chief Mike Banks and CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
DHS DEPLOYING BODY CAMERAS TO ALL FEDERAL POLICE IN MINNEAPOLIS ‘IMMEDIATELY’
Amid the fallout over Noem’s description of events on Jan. 24, the secretary has blamed CBP for having given the information that she shared in a press conference after the shooting. “We were being relayed information from on the ground from CBP agents and officers that were there,” Noem said. “We were using the best information we had at the time.”
Lucio said going forward, investigators would be smart to allow someone from the local government or federal law enforcement to liaise. “This would go a long way in helping quell some of the mistrust of federal government’s handling and involvement in these incidents,” she said.