A federal judge is dissolving the temporary restraining order that prohibited federal investigators from destroying any evidence related to Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting, finding that attorneys representing the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) failed to prove that the administration was unlikely to preserve evidence.
“Though the record is not one-sided, the greater weight of the evidence shows Defendants are not likely to destroy or improperly alter evidence related to Mr. Pretti’s shooting during the life of this case, and other relevant considerations do not on balance favor a continuing preservation order,” Judge Eric C. Tostrud said.
Tostrud said that the BCA had raised “significant concerns” about how the on-scene investigation was conducted, but that the “concerns about past conduct do not hold substantial predictive value” about how DHS would conduct the investigation in the future.
A screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters shows a law enforcement officer spraying irritants at Alex Pretti, before he was fatally shot when federal agents were trying to detain him in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 24, 2026.
Video Obtained By Reuters
The judge also acknowledged that the swift comments DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials made about the shooting were “troubling” and cast doubt on the administration’s “interest in learning the truth,” but said BCA failed to prove that those comments indicated that evidence would be destroyed.
In response to the judge’s decision, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose office sought the TRO along with BCA, said they “expect [the federal government] to do what they have pledged to do: preserve evidence of this fatal shooting.”
“Preservation was step one. Access is step two and those efforts are already well underway,” she continued.
-ABC News’ Armando Garcia
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