A Minneapolis woman has revealed that she was the anti-ICE protester who was protected by Alex Pretti before he was shot dead by border control officers in January.

Jessi Holman said she was ‘one of the first people on the scene’ on January 24 observing federal agents carry out a targeted immigration enforcement operation known as Operation Metro Surge on Nicollet Avenue.

Holman said federal agents yelled at her to get to the west side of the avenue. As she did so, she claimed an agent began saying ‘hateful things’ and ‘shoved [her] toward the snow bank.’

‘The next thing you know, I’m just sprayed, and I feel nothing but burning,’ Holman told KARE11. ‘I can’t see, and then I’m getting pulled from every which direction.’

Pretti, a 37-year-old Department of Veterans Affairs nurse, was fatally shot by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents after he stepped between Holman and the agent who shoved her to the ground.

Holman recalled hearing the first gunshot go off as she opened her eyes while still on the ground.

‘I see Alex’s knees falling to the ground,’ she said. ‘I remember getting up and turning, and hearing more shots and screaming for help, “Someone call 911.”‘

Holman said she felt ‘a lot of survivor’s guilt’ after Pretti’s death, calling his actions ‘incredibly courageous and brave.’

Jessi Holman revealed that she was the woman pushed to the ground by a federal agent before Alex Pretti’s death in Minneapolis this January

Pretti, 37, was shot dead by border patrol agents in Minneapolis on January 24 during an immigration enforcement operation

‘Being the first one assaulted, it’s like, I’m the one who provoked this,’ she said. ‘I know that’s not the truth, but…’

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said Pretti approached the federal officers with a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Bystander videos appeared to show Pretti holding a cellphone up, not a firearm.

Pretti had a valid permit to carry a handgun, which is legal in Minnesota, and was carrying one in his waistband. State law does not require individuals to conceal their firearm.

Footage of the deadly encounter appeared to show an officer removing the gun from Pretti’s waistband in the moments before he was fatally shot.

Holman described a hectic atmosphere with an increasing number of agents filing in as protesters ‘started blowing our whistles.’

She said Pretti’s death did not hit her until she returned home and she ‘fell in front of my door.’

Holman added that she was still grieving Pretti by being ‘active and still try[ing] to do whatever I can for my community.’

‘Alex was so selfless, showed the best of how humans care and love each other, and made that sacrifice for another person they didn’t know,’ she told the outlet.

Video showed Pretti being shot as he lay on the floor after officers had disarmed him

Pretti was killed less than one month after mom-of-three Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent on January 7

Holman said she had written a letter to Pretti’s parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, to thank them after his death.

‘I’m just deeply honored and grateful to them to raise such a good person,’ Holman said.

She has also given witness statements to the DHS, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) about what happened.

Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who was removed from the position in March, alleged Pretti attacked officers and was ‘brandishing a gun.’

Former Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who announced his retirement from federal service in March, claimed Pretti was at the scene ‘to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.’

Stephen Miller, now the White House chief of staff, initially reacted to Pretti’s death by posting that ‘a would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement’ and calling him a ‘domestic terrorist.’

Miller later said that officials were ‘evaluating’ why the CBP agents ‘may not have been following’ protocol.

Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Pretti attacked officers and was ‘brandishing a gun’

Stephen Miller initially reacted to Pretti’s death by writing on X that ‘a would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement’

President Donald Trump was asked in late January by reporters if he agreed that Pretti was an ‘assassin’ and said, ‘No.’

However, Trump later called Pretti an ‘agitator’ and ‘perhaps’ an ‘insurrectionist’ on Truth Social after video surfaced of him confronting federal agents and kicking out the taillight of one of their vehicles one week before the deadly shooting.

Pretti’s mother, Susan, said last month that the federal government ‘went on TV and lied about Alex.’

‘They tried to slander his memory to cover up their crime,’ she said at a press conference on October 27. ‘Not only was it wrong, it was shameful, unfair, unacceptable.’

Minnesota officials said in recent court filings that the federal government had stopped sharing evidence with state authorities investigating Pretti’s killing.

Attorneys for the Justice Department have argued that it is within their discretion to decline to share information with state authorities.

The state is still seeking the cell phones of the officers involved in both shootings and recordings of key interviews.

Pretti’s parents, Susan and Michael Pretti, said last month that the federal government had ‘ignored us, misled us, and shielded Alex’s killers’

Pretti’s father, Michael, accused the federal government of having ‘ignored us, misled us, and shielded Alex’s killers.’

‘We are a family who love this country,’ he continued. ‘We trust in the institutions of this country. We believe in the rule of law, and that people should be held accountable through that law.’

The parents said they decided to speak after being ‘stonewalled’ by US Attorney General Todd Blanche and US Attorney Daniel N Rosen, the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota.

Pretti’s death came less than one month after mother-of-three Renee Good was fatally shot on January 7 by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, as protests against immigration raids expanded in Minneapolis.

Federal officials at the time said the officer had acted in self-defense and that Good had engaged in ‘an act of domestic terrorism.’

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis previously told the Daily Mail: ‘President Trump’s response has remained consistent throughout this entire situation: he views Mr. Pretti’s death as a tragedy and has advocated for a fact-based investigation.

‘This is an active investigation and we refer you to the FBI for further questions. We remind the public not to obstruct law enforcement operations.

‘President Trump and his entire administration also view the deaths of countless innocent Americans at the hands of criminal illegal aliens as a tragedy that should warrant equal coverage from the mainstream media who choose to ignore these incidents.’