Wynnie Savageford watched federal agents kill Alex Pretti. She has now told investigators what she saw. That is the plain fact at the center of a story that has moved slowly, then all at once, over the last seven months.
The account comes from Savageford's attorney, James Cook, who spoke to HuffPost about the toll this has taken on his client. He said she saw Pretti get killed. He said she has been freaked out by it. He said she has been experiencing trauma. Those are not small words. They land with weight because they describe a person who was present when a life ended at the hands of people sworn to enforce the law.
Savageford sat for two hours with investigators on a Wednesday in early September. The interview was part of the federal government's ongoing probe into Pretti's killing on January 24 in Minneapolis. Cook could not disclose the specifics of what she said. He confirmed only that much of it echoed her remarks during a press conference in March. That press conference was the first time many people heard her full account of that day.
She said she was a legal observer of ICE officers in the Whittier neighborhood where Pretti was killed. She said agents approached her. She said she asked to see a warrant. She said they ignored her and then pushed her twice, causing her to fall. She said three agents tackled her and dragged her face-down into the middle of the street. She said she was put in the backseat of a vehicle. From there, she watched agents kill Pretti on the other side of the street.
After Pretti was killed, Savageford said she was taken to a warehouse near the Whipple detention center. She said she was strip-searched. Cook told HuffPost that male agents were touching her privates during the search. He said they mistook her for being from somewhere south of the border. He said they started to process her until one of the agents said she was a U.S. citizen. Then they sent her off.
She was released without being charged. But Savageford said she was held for twelve hours in a freezing cell. She said she had no access to food, water, or a bathroom unless she banged on the window long enough. That detail sticks. It is small and concrete. It tells you something about how the day unfolded for her after the shooting stopped.
Cook said other witnesses will be interviewing with the government in the weeks ahead. He said they will probably all say the same thing. He said the agents shot Pretti and did not know what to do. He said they had no plan if they killed somebody. He said they were asking each other what they should do now. He said they had no first aid. He said when they finally called an ambulance, they really did not know what to do.
That picture is hard to hold. Federal agents with guns. A man on the ground. No plan for what comes next. It raises questions that go beyond this one case. It asks what training looks like. It asks what accountability looks like. It asks what happens when the people with the most power in a moment are the least prepared for what they have done.
Customs and Border Protection agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez were later identified as the shooters. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Pretti had a legal firearm on him. Agents can be overheard on video asking where the gun was right after the shooting. Cell phone footage from bystanders captured Pretti confronting a federal officer who had pushed a woman into a snowbank. The officer then used a chemical irritant on him. Multiple federal officers surrounded him and took him to the ground. An agent wearing grey appeared to take something from his waist. Then the first shot was fired, followed by at least ten more audible shots.
The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Pretti's death a homicide. The two agents were charged for use of force. They have not been charged for the killing. That gap matters. It leaves room for doubt about what justice will look like for Pretti's family. They have spoken out in interviews. They have said they want answers. They have said they want accountability for the people that did this to Alex.
Savageford's interview came after weeks of negotiations. Cook said he secured immunity for her so she could testify freely and without fear of retribution. He said these days, if you are a witness to this sort of thing, you never know if the administration is going to come after you. That fear is not abstract. It is the kind of thing that keeps people quiet. It is the kind of thing that makes an interview like this one feel like a small act of courage.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the ongoing probe. A separate internal investigation was opened into Pretti's shooting by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Todd Blanche told reporters less than a week after Pretti's death that the DOJ's civil rights division would open a probe. He called it a standard investigation. He said he did not want to overstate what was happening.
Seven months later, the probe is still underway. Witnesses are coming forward. Savageford is one of them. Her account adds a human layer to a story that has been told through video clips and press statements. It puts a name and a voice to the person who was in the car when the shots were fired. It reminds you that there were people there who did not expect to see what they saw.
The story does not end with this interview. Cook said he would not say whether Savageford or other witnesses will consider suing the government for injury or damages. That choice is still ahead. For now, the facts are what they are. A woman watched federal agents kill a man. She has now told investigators what she saw. The rest is waiting.
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