'Where's the gun?': Video shows federal officer looking for weapon after Alex Pretti shooting

On Jan. 24, 2026, at least one masked federal immigration agent fatally shot 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, an incident that led to national outcry and protests. Much of the early online debate following the shooting focused on whether Pretti had a gun and what role, if any, that weapon played in the incident.

On the day of the shooting, Minneapolis police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters at a news conference that Pretti's only known interactions with law enforcement prior to the shooting were for traffic tickets and that he was believed to be a "lawful gun owner with a permit to carry." The Associated Press reported Pretti's family said he owned a handgun and had a permit to carry it concealed in Minnesota.

O'Hara also referenced being aware of users posting videos of the shooting online. One video shared on Bluesky (archived), Facebook, TikTok (archived) and X appeared to show two federal officers kneeling next to Pretti moments after the shooting, with one asking why he could not find a firearm in Pretti's possession.

The clip depicts one of the officers searching Pretti's body and saying, "I need… I need scissors." He tells a woman standing nearby, "I'm an E.M.T. as well, ma'am." He says, "Where …?," stopping for a moment and slightly sitting up, then continues, "Where's the f***ing gun? Where's the gun?" After asking the question at least twice, the officer looks up and points to his right to confirm with another officer standing at a distance next to a vehicle, "You've got the gun?" The other officer responds, "I've got the gun."

In short, the video showing the federal officer twice asking "Where's the gun?" was authentic and did not show signs of manipulation using artificial-intelligence tools or other digital alteration.

We confirmed the video's authenticity by tracing it to Bring Me the News, a Minnesota-based online publication. Editor and co-owner Adam Uren told Snopes via email that one of his publication's reporters recorded the clip. He said Bring Me the News first published the video at the bottom of an article and later shared a high-quality version of the clip via a Dropbox link for other publications to use. Uren also confirmed Bring Me the News had not shared the video on social media as of this writing. 

The clip depicts the same vehicles, street signs and people seen in other videos from the shooting scene, further confirming it was filmed during the shooting. 

We emailed the Department of Homeland Security to ask if the agency had seen the video in question and whether it had any comment about the officer asking, "Where's the gun?" We also asked if DHS had said on the record whether one of its officers removed a gun from Pretti's possession before or after the shooting.

The 2:13 mark of a different video, first shared by Drop Site News, shows the same moment with the officer asking the question, albeit with fainter audio. Other news media outlets, including CNN and Sky News, similarly reported that an officer asked, "Where's the gun?" during the incident.

Video investigations of gun being removed

ABC News, the AP, The New York Times and other prominent publications investigated several videos of the incident and reported that they appeared to show an officer removing a gun from Pretti seconds before shots were fired. The news outlets reported the firearm resembled a gun appearing in a photo DHS posted (archived) on X in the aftermath of the shooting.

That DHS post included claims unsupported by available video evidence. The agency said in part that the incident "looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement."

For further reading, we previously investigated a rumor that President Donald Trump posted that only criminals carry guns in "our streets" after Pretti's shooting, as well as numerous claims involving the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good.