Ammon News - U.S. immigration agents shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis on Saturday, officials said, sparking fierce protests and condemnations from local leaders in the second such incident this month.

The Department of Homeland Security characterized the incident as an attack, saying a Border Patrol agent fired in self-defense after a man approached with a handgun and violently resisted attempts to disarm him.

But bystander videos from the scene verified and reviewed by Reuters showed the man, identified as 37-year-old Alex Pretti, holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, as he tries to help other protesters who have been pushed to the ground by agents.

As the videos begin, Pretti can be seen filming as a federal agent pushes away one woman and shoves another woman to the ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the women, then raises his left arm to shield himself as the agent pepper sprays him.

Several agents then take hold of Pretti - who struggles with them - and force him onto his hands and knees. As the agents pin down Pretti, someone shouts what sounds like a warning about the presence of a gun. Video footage then appears to show one of the agents removing a gun from Pretti and stepping away from the group with it.

Moments later, an officer with a handgun pointed at Pretti's back fires four shots at him in quick succession, footage shows. Several more shots can then be heard as another agent appears to fire at Pretti.

The agents initially all back away from Pretti’s body on the road. Some agents then seem to offer medical assistance to Pretti as he lies on the ground, as other agents keep bystanders back.

Law enforcement officers kneel next to the body of a man who was shot when federal agents were trying to detain him in Minneapolis

The shooting of Pretti, an intensive care nurse, drew hundreds of protesters to the neighborhood to confront the armed and masked agents, who deployed tear gas and flashbang grenades. Demonstrations also broke out in New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, among other cities.

It also raised tensions between state and federal officials, already at odds with the Trump administration over the shooting of another U.S. citizen, Renee Good, on January 7.

They have refused to allow local officials to participate in their investigation of the incident.

Reuters