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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Growing Calls For DHS Secretary Noem To Go; Walz Speaks Out After Meeting With White House Border Czar; Woman Who Took Video Of Fatal Encounter Between Alex Pretti And Federal Officers Breaks Her Silence; Man Rushes Rep. Ilhan Omar, Sprays Unknown Substance Toward Her; GOP Sen. Thune Calls Latest ICE Shooting An "Inflection Point"; Stephen Miller: Agents May Have Breached Protocol Before Pretti Shooting; Minneapolis Mourns Alex Pretti After He Was Killed By Federal Agents; Son Of Veteran Honored By Alex Pretti Joins 360. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 27, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I will tell you something that you don't know Erin Burnett. The film "Melania" might not be doing so hot to trot come this weekend, but Jeff Bezos is doing quite well under Donald John Trump.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Amazon chairman.
ENTEN: Amazon, yes, you got it right. His wealth booyah! Up $35 billion since early November of 2024. I think there are some people who might see a connection between that and the money being spent. I'm not necessarily making that connection. But some people certainly are.
BURNETT: Harry Enten, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks so much to all of you for being with us. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:31]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening again from Minneapolis.
Tonight, my conversation with the woman who for the last four days has been known as the Woman in the Pink Coat, who captured that crucial video from just steps away as federal border officers shot Alex Pretti over and over again. Then moments later, she bore witness to his death. It was, she says, so fast moving, but not for me. We'll talk to her ahead.
Also tonight, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, we begin though, keeping them honest with the administration, seemingly in cleanup mode over the killing of ICU nurse, Alex Pretti. To people here, though, the cleanup is not what's wanted. Coming clean is and signaling a course correction if that's what the President is in fact now doing is not the same as doing the right thing. With that in mind, here's the President in neighboring Iowa this evening talking about the new official he sent here and the change he expects to see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have Tom Homan there now. We put him in there, he's great. And they met with the Governor, the Mayor, everybody else and we're going to de- escalate a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Deescalate a little bit, he said, that's the President talking to a Fox host about bringing in his Border Czar Tom Homan to oversee the federal operation here, and removing Border Official Gregory Bovino. The host, Will Cain, followed up with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL CAIN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, "THE WILL CAIN SHOW": Is this a pullback?
TRUMP: I don't think it's a pullback. It's a little bit of a change. Everybody in this room that has a business, you know, you make little changes. You know Bovino is very good. But he's a pretty out there, kind of a guy and in some cases that's good, maybe it wasn't good here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, Bovino is out and out there, according to the President, a little bit and Homan is in. And before leaving for Iowa, the President also seemed to promise answers and accountability in the wake of what Bovino's men did to Alex Pretti just a few blocks from here, just days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know, we're doing a big investigation. I want to see the investigation. I'm going to be watching over it. I want to very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, keeping them honest, though, we've already learned that the investigation will be solely in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security. Neither the Justice Department nor the FBI will be involved and no one from the state.
When asked about DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the President today said she was doing a "very good job".
Tonight, the House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, is calling for her firing. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis are also calling for her departure. They're the first senators from their party to do so. Murkowski saying it was, "probably time for her to go". Senator Tillis, when asked if he had confidence in Secretary Noem, said, "No, not at all. I think she should go." He later softened his remarks, but only slightly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Senator, do you have confidence in Secretary Noem?
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): None at all.
REPORTER: But do you think Noem should step down?
TILLIS: I think Noem needs to decide what -- I mean, I think if Noem looks at her body of work, I could not be, if I were in her position, I can't think of any point of pride over the last year. She's got to make her own decision or the President does. But she has taken this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Senator Tillis also laid into the President's deputy chief-of- staff and ultimate point man on immigration and deportation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TILLIS: Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations of incompetence. I can tell you, if I were President, neither one of them would be in Washington right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Stephen Miller, for his part, is weighing in as well tonight, in part about the basis for this inaccurate statement, which both Secretary Noem and Gregory Bovino read just hours after Alex Pretti's killing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREGORY BOVINO (U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief of the El Centro Sector in Southern California): An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol agents with a nine-millimeter semiautomatic handgun. The agents attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted.
KRISTI NOEM, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol Officers with a nine- millimeter semiautomatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but he reacted violently --
BOVINO: -- fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers --
NOEM: --an agent fired defensive shots. Medics were on the scene immediately --
BOVINO: -- delivered medical aid to the subject, but the subject was pronounced dead at the scene. NOEM: This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage --
BOVINO: -- where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.
NOEM: This individual went and impeded their law enforcement operations, attacked those officers, had a weapon on him, and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition wishing to inflict harm on these officers coming, brandishing like that and impeding their work that they were doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:05]
COOPER: If either of these public officials had an ounce of decency, they would call up Alex Pretti's parents and apologize.
Stephen Miller, for his part, called Alex Pretti a would-be assassin, also, domestic terrorist.
Tonight, though, he is saying this quoting now, "The initial statement from DHS was based on reports from CBP on the ground. Additionally, the White House provided clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disrupters. We are evaluating why the CBP Team may not have been following that protocol." The words I'm sorry and I was wrong were not included.
So, in addition to cleanup, there's also seems to be some finger pointing happening now. A lot of finger pointing, that's not all. CNN has reviewed DHS' initial report to Congress on the shooting. It confirms what we've seen on the video. The two officers fired at Alex Pretti repeatedly. First, the one we've been become familiar with, standing over Pretti and firing just seconds after he's disarmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(A video of the shooting in Minneapolis where Alex Pretti was shot and died.)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We're going to talk to the woman who took that video shortly. The second officer firing is a bit harder to say, he's on the left of the frame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Another video angle of the shooting in Minneapolis where Alex Pretti was shot and died.)
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: The report does not specifically say whether the bullets fired
from both law enforcement officers hit Pretti, though it was very close range. As for Mr. Pretti's own weapon, which he was licensed to own and carry and remained in a holster on his belt, the President weighed in again on that today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't like the fact that he was carrying a gun that was fully loaded, and he had two magazines with him, and it's pretty unusual, but nobody knows when they saw the gun, how they saw the gun, everything else. Bottom line, it was terrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Unusual, unless you're Kyle Rittenhouse or somebody who supports the President. That is now a refrain for the President on this shooting and this gun owner, but only this gun owner, it seems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm going to save your Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment is under siege, believe me.
We'll ensure Americans have the means to protect themselves in this age of terror. I will be always defending the Second Amendment.
We are going to be so strong with our Second Amendment. We're not letting our Second Amendment go.
If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns, and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment and other constitutional freedoms.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President has also made it clear, he's always going to protect the constitutional right, the Second Amendment constitutional right of Americans to own guns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, lots of discussion. Joining me now is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Governor Walz met with the white House Border Czar Tom Homan today, who was dispatched to Minneapolis in the wake of Saturday's fatal shooting as the governors first television interview since Alex Pretti was killed.
Appreciate you being here. I'm sorry to make you stand out in the cold.
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): That's Minnesota.
COOPER: Yes, first of all, the meeting with Tom Homan. How did that go? What are your thoughts on it?
WALZ: Well, Tom is a professional, which is a lot more than Bovino and Kristi Noem. But, look, I think the thing we said is we're very clear about this, that we need these folks out of Minnesota, and we need justice for Renee Good and for Alex and those were those were things that we came with.
I think the thing that I'm most concerned about is the tone was different. There was a tone shift. I wish it was because of the horrific, you know, shooting that somebody saw some morality. But I think it's probably the press. But with that being said, I'm not interested in a more efficient metro surge. I'm ready for them to get out of here and I think that's where Minnesotans are talking about.
So, it was it was progress. Look, I never got a call from Bovino or Noem.
COOPER: Nothing.
WALZ: No, nothing, when they're coming here and Tom Homan landed last night and he called me last night and asked if he could have a meeting, and he was there at 9:00.
So, look, I think that's progress but they started this fire, so we're not giving anybody credit for putting it out. But right now, what we need is we need a return to normalcy by these ICE agents out of here. And you talked about this, in all those meetings with the White House and with Tom Homan and his team. Nobody asked about Alex or his family. So, I appreciate you bringing that up.
This family going through the horror of losing their son, and then also to see him slandered like that, it's just mean.
COOPER: No, slandered by the top officials in the administration.
WALZ: Yes, in the world, the most powerful people in the world and not taking it back and look for one whole day certain news stations, that's all they were running and that's one of the problems here.
Look, Minnesota, they came here, we don't have near the undocumented folks that many other states do. Minnesota's a well-run state. Minnesota is a place where people get along. We welcome immigrant community and they brought this down on us and they brought this down on us.
And I think you're here, Anderson. You're telling your folks it's a siege in all respects. We have children being pulled from their parents. We have elderly people being dragged out in this type of cold with no clothes. It's just absolute cruelty.
[20:10:35]
COOPER: I mean, is it in your mind, political that they came here to Minnesota?
WALZ: Yes, well, there's no other facts for it. They've changed why they're here. Donald Trump himself said, you know, I won that state three times. He didn't and then I get a letter the other day from Pam Bondi demanding our voting records in this and kind of like, well, we'll send these people out of here if you do that.
COOPER: There was an implication, a quid pro quo in that.
WALZ: Oh, exactly. Amateurish, but that's what they're doing. And they're never going to get those. And, states control that 10th Amendment. You're seeing all the contradictions. I appreciate you saying this. Second Amendment, 10th Amendment, everything else that is no longer there.
But the one thing I can say is that come out of this and you've seen it, the strength of the people of Minnesota, the decency of Americans, the ability to care for their neighbors, to be out there. That will last a lot longer than this administration. But I just say right now, it's very disheartening to me to see the President say Kristi Noem is doing a great job.
I'm not sure there's been anybody more incompetent or cruel that's ever served in a Cabinet position than her, and this is on her. And look, we need to know who these people were. We need these guys brought back here. We need --
COOPER: That's the thing, I mean, you know.
WALZ: We showed up to do an investigation, and we're not allowed onto the site.
COOPER: In any normal situation, your state investigators --
WALZ: The best at this.
COOPER: -- would be on the scene, would be working the crime scene would be in charge of this, or at least working with federal law enforcement.
WALZ: And they've developed the trust of the people here and what they come up with. They don't make any judgments on it. They turn it over; a grand jury will then bring indictments.
COOPER: Tom Homan, has Tom Homan made any indication that that'd be something that --
WALZ: He said he would call Kash Patel about it? I asked him. I said, that's one of our demands, that this happened. I also said, you know, insult to injury. It's just like there's a cruelty that runs so deep, it's hard to understand. They opened a federal investigation into Renee Good's wife, and that's still ongoing.
And I said, look, you want to send some goodwill to the people of Minnesota, you need to drop that. But he indicated he would do that. I see the President say he might peel down a little bit when you deal with the President. And I said, I'm in a situation where, people say, well, you got to give him something. You've got to do something. Don't anger him, or whatever. It's pretty hard not to be angry when your citizens are being shot.
It's pretty hard to be angry when you see the amateurs out here, you know, wreaking havoc. And there's no purpose to this and I think what's really important to tell Americans, Minnesotans believe in law and order. Minnesotans believe that we should have border control. Minnesotans believe in due process, though, and Minnesotans want to know if you say you're going to get the worst of the worst, quit lying about who you're arresting. Tell us who you're arresting.
COOPER: It is shocking just to see, I mean, you know, we've known for a long time that these guys are wearing masks, but it is now just an army of masked men --
WALZ: Yes.
COOPER: -- who seem to be acting with impunity and seem to be. I mean, I can't tell you how many of their videos are there are of them like cursing out people.
WALZ: Look at the cruelty of it and up at the Whipple Building, if you went up there, the federal building where they're stationed, they come out to get in their car and they taunt these folks. And we finally got to the point where we have to keep order. And it's very difficult when they're undermining order.
They create this chaos, and we have to come in and clean it up. So, we took over the security of that building. When I say we, the State and the National Guard.
So instead of those scenes up there, you saw just chaos and smoke grenades, whatever you saw National Guard with uniforms on with their names, no mask, handing out donuts, hot chocolate and coffee. And today I got a request from the protesters up there if they could deliver homemade food to the National Guard, who were away from their homes. That's the way this is supposed to work. These are your neighbors.
We have a group of folks here, mercenaries who are told we;'re the enemy. They're kitted up like they're in Afghanistan to do these things. They take seven people to throw Alex on the ground and then shoot him, it's insane.
And I appreciate all the news media here telling it and tell the rest of the country. Stand with us on this. This is a stand we have to hold on. They have to leave here. They have to bring these folks to justice. And they have to be -- some accountability to the top levels. Kristi Noem still having a job today is absolutely outrageous.
COOPER: Governor Walz, I appreciate your time.
WALZ: Thanks so much.
COOPER: Thank you very much.
Coming up next, my conversation with the woman who's been known for days as the woman in the pink jacket who bravely stood and documented what happened to Alex Pretti.
She filmed it up close. What she saw and heard, what she's gone through, what her name is. She wants to be public because she is not afraid anymore. Why she's coming forward now, ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STELLA CARLSON, WITNESS: I mean, I watched him die. I remember him arching his back and his head rolling back, and he looked. It was so fast moving and but not for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:19:18]
COOPER: Well, for days she's been called the woman in the pink coat and she captured the crucial video showing exactly what happened when Alex Pretti was shot and killed by DHS officers. She had not come forward until today. And her name, which is being revealed for the first time, is Stella Carlson.
She's a children's entertainer. She runs a children's entertainment company. She's a face and body painter and an airbrush artist. All of it a world away from anything she or anyone could possibly imagine.
So, before we got to tape, I do want to warn you, the images are graphic and so is some of the sound. Stella Carlson and I spoke earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You've only been known as the pink jacket lady up to now. What is your name and what do you do?
CARLSON: Yes, my name is Stella Carlson. I am a children's entertainer. I run a children's entertainment company. I'm a face and body painter, also, an airbrush artist.
COOPER: Why have you decided to come forward? I really believe that America wants the truth. And I want people to know who I am. So, I'm not just the pink-jacket lady. And that I represent all of us because we all have a story, and we all have a reason in which we decide to go to the street and open our phones and video record.
And I just feel called to be somebody to show my face and represent that. We ask the ICE agents and all of the people in the streets who are infiltrating and making us unsafe to do the same thing. So, this is an opportunity for me to show my face.
COOPER: How long have you been involved with monitoring law enforcement actions here?
CARLSON: Only the past three weeks, the month of January, since they've been infiltrating our streets, kidnaping people off the street. So, since the beginning, I was doing meal delivery three weeks ago and trying to make sure that I was a part of the mutual aid that moved to, crisis response. And just walking my neighborhood, most specifically the schools, and making sure when school got out that there were enough bodies in the area for people to just feel safe.
COOPER: So, Saturday morning, what were your plans Saturday morning?
CARLSON: Saturday morning, I was booked to be at a church to face paint for three hours. For their community gathering.
COOPER: You're going to be face painting kids.
CARLSON: Yes, I had some downtime. I got ready a little too quick that day.
COOPER: So, you heard the whistles somewhere --
CARLSON: Close by.
COOPER: -- and decided to drive there?
CARLSON: Yes, when I turned on to Nicollet Avenue, my plan was to just drive by and kind of assess what is going on.
COOPER: When did you see Alex Pretti? What interaction did you have with him before the camera was rolling?
CARLSON: Yes. So, when I turned the caravan of vehicles of ICE agents, I could tell we're starting to kind of move in and block us in. I could have probably gotten through. And I'll be clear to say that as I went -- I was almost going to be driving past Alex and I did think of Renee Good in that moment because as I looked forward, I was seeing somebody on the ground being tackled by agents. I saw another vehicle coming the other direction, trying to drive through, getting tackled by agents, and they were punching the windows.
So, at that moment I was like, I need to not go forward. And I looked at Alex, he looked at me and he pointed to the parking spot and I was like, okay, just park.
COOPER: When you hit record, Alex Pretti is in the frame. Did you know him in advance?
CARLSON: I did not.
COOPER: You then kind of moved to focus on two women who were having a closer interaction with border patrol agents, and Alex Pretti crosses the frame and has his video camera in his right hand and is directing, seems to be directing traffic with his left.
CARLSON: Yes, it took me a minute to get my phone going because I was shaking already. But I have thought about this a lot and there were so many agents and so many bystanders and people being abused. I honestly blocked all of that out.
In the moment, I saw one of my community members in the street alone, directing traffic, and nobody else was around. I was like, okay,
Alex is filming these ICE agents and the traffic. I'm going to film him. So, it was, I was his backup is how I felt about it in my risk assessment.
COOPER: Did you say anything to him?
CARLSON: To Alex?
COOPER: Yes.
CARLSON: No, we never did speak.
COOPER: Kristi Noem said, this looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement. Is that at all what was happening?
CARLSON: Absolutely not, and the most offensive thing you could say about somebody who has done so much for our country, and which I didn't even know at the time, but what I did know is this person was calm and was handling it with grace and consistency and definitely without threat.
COOPER: You didn't see the gun that apparently was holstered?
CARLSON: No and to be clear, if I had, I maybe wouldn't have stayed so close. I'm not comfortable with guns, period.
COOPER: Kristi Noem said that Alex Pretti, "approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a nine-millimeter handgun. She's implying he was brandishing a weapon.
CARLSON: Absolutely not and in fact I'm grateful that I was in a position to be there for my community and for our whole state to stop the lies and the madness and allow there to be proof of that.
COOPER: Your video and the video of others, but your video in particular is essential proof to what actually happened.
CARLSON: Yes.
COOPER: Did you know that right away?
CARLSON: Absolutely not. I was hoping it was recording, you know, that I hit the record button or I didn't turn it off. The moment they were telling Alex and I to back up is when my phone went down and I was going over the snowbank.
There was a Border Patrol agent looking at me and barking at us, and that is when you hear me go, I don't know. I'm don't really remember what I said, but it was like, okay, okay, or stop, like so aggressive, so inappropriately rude and violent in the way they look at you is so violent.
But I've been really frustrated that my camera went down for that moment.
[20:25:45] COOPER: When it comes back up, they are right there. The women, Mr. Pretti and the law enforcement agents. Do you have a sense of exactly roughly how many feet away you were? Because when you see it from other angles across the street, you are clearly visible. It looks like you're up against a storefront. I mean, it looks like it could be, you know, in under ten feet away.
CARLSON: Yes, I would say it went from five feet to ten feet, it kind of moved between that.
COOPER: Were you scared?
CARLSON: I was terrified, but I was more worried about this not being documented.
COOPER: He and they are sprayed with a chemical agent. Do you remember seeing that?
CARLSON: You know, it's so wild, I don't. There was a certain point in filming where I was looking at the camera because, you know, when you're filming, you're like, okay, I'm filming. Once she was pushed down, I knew I was filming something. Before, I was just kind of filming in case something happens.
Once something starts happening. My brain just went into like, there's something happening, and I just locked into my phone, and I just started staring. That is when I started looking through my phone. I had no idea that that that tear gas even occurred. I had no idea tear gas was in the air. My eyes were burning, but I was confused by that. I was like, why do my eyes burn? No, I didn't know.
COOPER: It appears the focus of the border patrol officers goes from these two women --
CARLSON: Right
COOPER: -- and then turns to Alex Pretti. He still has his camera out, but they seem to then focus on him, pulling him down onto the ground.
CARLSON: Alex made that choice to be kind and how they made the focus about him, I think, is because they saw him as interfering at that point.
COOPER: Did it seem to you in that moment and having looked at the tape that those agents were angry, were emotional?
CARLSON: I think they rested in a calm anger, which is terrifying. I don't I think because of the protections that have been given to them. I don't think they have a reason to feel anything but confident about what they're doing and that this is some type of video game. That's how it feels. It feels like we are a joke, that our civil rights are a joke, that our Constitution is something to be laughed at.
COOPER: That's what you have seen in the streets.
CARLSON: That is how they behave, right? That is what many of us have seen and that is what were currently seeing.
COOPER: On your video we hear them saying, he's got a gun, he's got a gun. They say a few other things along the lines of, he's got a gun or a gun, gone. Do you remember hearing that in real time? You know.
CARLSON: I didn't hear anything.
COOPER: Your video captures the moment in which the officer removes his gun after they have said he's got a gun. It's very hard to see, even on the video. You have to kind of slow it down.
CARLSON: And then before you knew it, pow, pow, pow, pow and I saw Alex on the ground. And then there's nobody around. After he was shot, the agents fled and all I saw was Alex on the ground.
COOPER: One of the things that's shocking about the number of shots is that the last five shots or so are actually from a distance where he appears already lying on the ground, not moving. Do you remember that? Again, this is happening in seconds.
CARLSON: I mean, honestly, Alex being shot is the most memorable part of it. The agents are not a part of that. I think, because I watched him die. I mean, I watched him die. I remember him arching his back and his head rolling back, and he looked. It was so fast moving and but not for me. Like when they left, when they fled, which now I see that after the shooting, they decided to just scatter and save themselves, watching him die.
COOPER: When the shots are fired, you begin to scream, what the eff did you just do? Do you remember that moment? Do you remember screaming that?
[20:30:12]
CARLSON: I remember the feeling inside my body. I mean, of course I wish I wasn't saying that word so often, but at the same time, that's how angry and, like, I don't know if anger is the right mortified. That's just how mortified I have been feeling. And helpless. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, like what? What? And I knew he was gone because I watched it and then they come over to try to perform some type of medical aid by ripping his clothes open with scissors, and then maneuvering his body around like a rag doll, only to discover that it could be because they wanted to count the bullet wounds to see how many they got, like he's a deer.
I watched that, and that is what it felt like they were doing and that is part of why I was like, what are you guys doing? Why would you jostle his body around like that? You're not even doing anything to help him. But I knew he was gone.
COOPER: You knew he was gone then?
CARLSON: I knew he was gone. There was no way with the way his body was moving and I only knew that because of the way they were manipulating his dead body, just playing with it. Like they're in a video game. They were looking at us and laughing. COOPER: After the shooting?
CARLSON: Yes. I mean, the reason of escalation was due to the mockery. We understand why the MPD is unable to intervene on a level we would like. But you would like to think that their kindness, compassion, looking us in the eyes would occur in these moments when we're being attacked in the streets.
And the MPD just felt like they were part of that team at that moment. And maybe, I'm not talking about the whole department but --
COOPER: Were Minneapolis Police Department people on the scene?
CARLSON: Once the yellow tape was up, there were MPD officers who were standing in line. Five of them, I think. And they wouldn't look at us. Everyone just kept saying, just look at us. You're our representatives. You work for us. Why won't you look at us?
Like, one of our -- a part of our community just was murdered in the street. Like, you're our Minneapolis Police Department, why won't you even just look at us to give us solidarity? You know, when we walk around with the whistles around our neck, it's not that we have, like, we know we can't do much.
But what we do know is that we can let our community at large know when we're walking around, like, I see you. And if you're stuck in your apartment, I want you to see me. I'm another person walking around who is here to protect you as best I can with my whistle and my phone, which really feels not great.
COOPER: And yet, you stood there with a phone, and you documented this. You didn't run away.
CARLSON: I am not one to run when I'm afraid. I just, no way was I going to leave Alex by himself, undocumented. Like, that wasn't an option. I mean, obviously somebody was just executed in the street. I knew I was in danger. We all were. But I wasn't going to leave if we weren't all cleared out.
And if it wasn't for the collective actions over the past three weeks, I don't know if I would have been able to stay that long. But I knew that this was a moment, and we all have to be brave. And we all have to take risks, and we're all going to be given moments to make that decision.
And I guess in my default mind of crisis there, that's where mine fell. And I'm grateful to myself, and I'm grateful to anybody who was supportive to me after to make sure I could get to safety and get that video uploaded to the right people.
COOPER: The federal government says that they are investigating what happened. Have you been contacted by anyone from the federal government? FBI?
CARLSON: No. No, I have not --
COOPER: Border Patrol? Homeland Security?
CARLSON: I do have a legal team now who are fielding much of that, and I am no longer accessible in those ways.
COOPER: I talked to your attorney this morning, she said she had not received any outreach from the FBI or anybody from the federal government.
CARLSON: I do not think they have my name yet. Obviously, they will.
COOPER: You've given testimony to state investigators.
CARLSON: Yes, yes.
COOPER: Do you have confidence in a federal investigation?
CARLSON: No. No, I do not. I have faith in various representatives throughout our country who are trying to do the right thing and make sure that justice is served. I have faith in our local government in Minnesota. I think they are wanting to make sure to protect us and investigate it thoroughly, but they are trying to block that from happening.
They wouldn't even let the investigative team come to the crime scene. I mean, their goal is to protect themselves and to spin stories.
[20:35:08]
COOPER: It's incredible to me, though, that four days after this shooting, you have not been contacted by anybody from the FBI or the federal government.
CARLSON: Right.
COOPER: What does that tell you?
CARLSON: That they're protecting themselves and they don't care about the truth of what happened. They're looking for their way to create the truth that protects them and allows them to move forward with whatever it is, which we all have various ideas of what that looks like, but whatever it is that their long game is in creating this violence in our streets, our streets.
This is not -- these are people from all over the country who have not been trained to intervene, kick down doors, break away families, leave children stranded in the street without their parents, having communities throughout Minnesota trying to come together to figure out who can foster all of these children who have been abandoned in apartments that have been kicked down with now no family around? I mean, how can you justify that? There's enough evidence for what they've been doing before it ever came to murder.
COOPER: To you, this is murder.
CARLSON: Yes. I know it is. It was an assassination in full view in the middle of the streets of somebody who has served our country and continues to at the Veterans Hospital, like, nobody should have to worry about being assassinated in their streets, especially in America, which nowhere it should be that way.
I think people are feeling like there's nobody here to help us. There's nobody who can step in to protect us. And I think people are at a loss and shooken, like, what do we do? What can we do? What is in our constitutional rights that don't seem to matter?
The Constitution doesn't seem to matter. There's many people who have died. But we don't know what that looks like, you know, people from being detained and having a medical crisis without intervention. I've heard of many stories where people are sick and they don't have their medications. Like, all of those human rights violations, those stories aren't being told yet.
So this is only the beginning of a very long road. When this does end, we're all ready to move forward with productive ways to make this better. But how do we do that when our local officials in the state of Minnesota also have their hands tied?
So that's -- it broke down to, then it's us. We only have each other. Nobody's here for us. Nobody's going to help us right now because their hands are tied. So this is what we can do.
I can document in case somebody gets detained, which is what I was filming, right? In case someone gets detained. Did I think I was going to be filming a murder? No. An assassination? No.
COOPER: Do you worry about you becoming a target because you've speak --
CARLSON: Yes.
COOPER: -- spoken out?
CARLSON: Yes, absolutely. Yes. But, yes, I hope that me coming forward and doing this allows others to do it with me. I think there's safety in more of us taking those risks. But I understand we cannot all do that. This is just, you know, one more moment to tell the truth. One more moment to -- I'm just here to represent all the work we're doing, and I'm here to represent the truth.
I'm not here to represent me, I'm here to represent we. I care about my community. I care about my state and my country. And this is one small thing I can do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was Stella Carlson who provided crucial evidence for whatever investigation may be done.
Perspective now from Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo. It is incredibly brave of her to come forward. She didn't have to.
MEDARIA ARRADONDO, FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF: Yes. Anderson, what I saw from Ms. Carlson is that I saw both courage, but I also saw vulnerability. One of the things that stood out to me as well is it was almost this appeal to leaders that we just want the truth. The people just want the truth.
As tough, as difficult as it may be, she's saying, have the moral courage. It may not be pretty, but tell us the truth.
COOPER: What's so stunning is -- I mean, first of all, had she not videotaped this and had the bravery to stand there 5 to 10 feet away from this and the others also, there were multiple people from different angles --
ARRADONDO: Yes.
COOPER: -- the lies would stand.
ARRADONDO: Yes.
COOPER: I mean, and who knows how many other lies have been told when there's not cameras visible.
ARRADONDO: Yes. And, you know, and unfortunately there's been situations throughout the country where these engagements, these interactions with police have not been captured on video. And so communities left to see what they know is the truth against another narrative.
[20:40:04]
And so, again, courage, vulnerability, but bravery. And you can sense that. Yes.
COOPER: Do you think the arrival of Tom Homan is going to make much of a difference in terms of actually what's happening on the ground, the tactics being used, the individuals who are roaming the streets masked?
ARRADONDO: Yes, I think people are going to be expecting a change. They're going to be expecting a change in the tactics. You know, border czar home and being here, that's something different. But, Anderson, if the people do not see a change in the tactics, none of it's going to matter. So they're going to expect change.
COOPER: Chief Arradondo, I appreciate your time.
ARRADONDO: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Thank you very much.
ARRADONDO: Yes.
COOPER: Coming up next, we have breaking news. An attack on a U.S. congresswoman right here in Minneapolis moments ago. We'll have details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: We've got some breaking news here in Minneapolis. Just moments ago, a man rushed Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar while she was speaking at a town hall event. The incident captured on video. You see he approach the congresswoman sprayed or squirts an unknown substance toward her.
CNN's Sara Sidner is on the scene. Sara, what more do we know?
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR & SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I was in the room when this happened. All of a sudden, at her town hall, which she has once a month here at the Urban League in North Minneapolis, a man jumped up. He was sitting near the front row, and sprayed something towards her.
Everyone could smell it. It was very strong in the room. It smelled a bit like vinegar. You see the reaction from Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She almost went as if she was going to confront him, but then her security detail jumped on him and took him out of the room.
I was able to catch up with her in an exclusive interview just as she was leaving to ask her if she was OK, as her staff was very shaken watching all of this. And she says, "I'm OK." She says, listen, "I've been through war, and I'm built like that, and there is no one that is going to intimidate me."
And so she is going to continue, and she continued her town hall even after whatever that was was sprayed towards her, directly at her, as the man sort of leaped forward towards her. But that is the situation here --
COOPER: Got it.
SIDNER: -- in North Minneapolis. And she was here, of course, talking about what ICE has been doing here and much of what we have been reporting throughout, Anderson.
COOPER: Wow. Sara Sidner. Sara, thanks very much.
Congresswoman Omar is going to be a guest tonight on The Source with Kaitlan Collins coming up at the top of the hour. Tonight, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has joined a growing list of Republicans who are calling for a complete investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: The death of Alex Pretti was a tragedy, and there should be a full and impartial investigation into the shooting. I'm glad that the president is sending Tom Homan to Minnesota, and I hope that his arrival will help restore order to the situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:45:08] COOPER: Well, he also said the deadly shootings of Pretti and Renee Good mark a turning point, a chance for the Trump administration to evaluate and assess its immigration enforcement policies and procedures.
Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. Do you expect an actual change on the ground with Tom Homan here?
REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Not really. I mean, and it's important to say that there might be a sense of relief in that this, you know, wannabe Nazi thug in the head of the CBP, Bovino, is gone. But the administration just continues to normalize this, and we don't realize.
I mean, so they're bringing in a guy who took a $50,000 cash bribe before getting his job, and that's supposed to make things better? I mean, this administration is corrupt full and through. And what I've heard on the ground, what I've seen on the ground today, is that the violence is probably going to continue.
COOPER: The -- I mean, have you ever seen a situation in the United States with these masked guys running around, it seems, with total impunity?
MOULTON: Yes.
COOPER: I mean, there's no -- it seems like there's no -- and also a hostility -- I mean, I understand their -- they feel under siege because people are blowing whistles and that, you know, whatever, that's uncomfortable and being videotaped. But they are supposedly trained law enforcement personnel and should be able to deal with, you know, citizens yelling at them. It happens all the time.
MOULTON: Anderson, this is what we defeated in Iraq. For right or wrong, this is what American troops, who, by the way, none of us were wearing masks. We weren't afraid. This is what we defeated, state- sponsored terrorists, in this case under Saddam Hussein. That's where I expected to see this. I never expected to see it on the streets of an American city.
COOPER: And yet it seems -- I'm surprised more people are not outraged by it. And maybe it's because it hasn't happened on their block and they haven't been pushed down or cursed out by some guy in a mask who has a badge and a gun.
MOULTON: Well, that's why I make this point about how the administration is just totally normalizing this. And I don't think that the comparisons with Nazi Germany are extreme because that's what happened, too. That's why ordinary German citizens began to accept the idea that certain members of their community would be singled out.
I mean, they have ICE tip lines, would be directly targeted in violation of the laws of the land. And they would be -- and it would be done as by agents in the state. But that's what's happening today in Minneapolis. And I'll tell you, people back home in Massachusetts are very concerned that we could be next. COOPER: It seems, though -- I have gotten, you know, I get direct messages from people who disagree with stuff all the time, and I appreciate that. And a lot of them are saying, well, why don't these people just stay home and let law enforcement just take away, you know --
MOULTON: Take away our freedoms?
COOPER: Take away these people.
MOULTON: That's not what Americans do. You know, I mean, these are real patriots that I've met here in Minneapolis, real American patriots, modern day American heroes who are fighting for freedom against an oppressive government. I mean, I come from a state that's proud of that heritage from the Revolutionary War several hundred years ago when we had to fight off a king. But that's what the people of Minneapolis today are doing as they fight off the Trump administration.
COOPER: So how does it -- I mean, what is the end here? Because the administration has not set a number of what their target is of, you know, alleged criminals that they are, say, that they're hunting down.
MOULTON: Yes, it has nothing to do with that. I mean, this is political retribution, which is --
COOPER: That's what is happening here, do you believe?
MOULTON: Absolutely. Absolutely. Look, if they actually cared about rounding up illegal immigrants, they would go where most of the illegal immigrants are in Florida or Texas. No surprise they're not going to those red states. They're terrorizing blue states because the Trump administration is not interested in even its stated mission. Whether you agree with it or not. They're just interested in terrorizing their political opponents.
COOPER: There's a lot of people here who believe the violence is not a, you know, a byproduct. The violence is the point.
MOULTON: Yes, I think that's right.
COOPER: You believe that?
MOULTON: That's what it looks like to me. Because what you see is so unbelievably un-American. And the idea that these customs borders -- Border Patrol or ICE agents think that they can get away with this. They laugh --
COOPER: Yes.
MOULTON: -- with impunity. They count bullet holes. They brag about what they're doing, though, that really shows that the violence is the point.
COOPER: Yes. Congressman Moulton, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. MOULTON: Good to see you.
COOPER: Up next, the legacy of Alex Pretti, the difference he made in a lot of people's lives on the job as an ICU nurse in the Minneapolis VA Hospital. You hear from the son of one of his former patients.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:53:59]
COOPER: Welcome back. A look at the site here in Minneapolis for Alex Pretti who was shot and killed and where people are now leaving flowers and other tributes and have been for days. He's being remembered as an ICU nurse who treated his patients with dignity.
One of the people paying tribute to him tonight is Mac Randolph. Alex Pretti cared for his dad, Terrance Lee Randolph, during his final days at a VA hospital here in Minneapolis and delivered his father's powerful final salute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX PRETTI, ICE NURSE AT A VA HOSPITAL WHO WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY BORDER PATROL AGENTS IN MINNEAPOLIS: Today, we remember that freedom is not free. We have to work at it, nurture it, protect it and even sacrifice for it. May we never forget and always remember our brothers and sisters who have served so that we may enjoy the gift of freedom.
So in this moment, we remember and give thanks for their dedication and selfless service to our nation in the cause of our freedom. In this solemn hour, we render them our honor and our gratitude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And that final salute was from Terrance Lee Randolph, an Air Force veteran who died after battling lung cancer. His son says Pretti was their guy in the hospital in his dad's last days. I spoke to Mac earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:55:07]
COOPER: When you heard what happened and you -- did you realize right away that that was the Alex that you knew?
MAC RANDOLPH, ALEX PRETTI CARED FOR HIS FATHER: So that morning, I was watching the local news coverage of the incident and I didn't know it was Alex yet. They hadn't released a name or a picture. And I -- but I closely follow everything that's happening in the city. And I knew right away whoever this was, they were going to say what they say. And I already felt compelled --
COOPER: You knew that federal officials were going to label him a terrorist or a --
RANDOLPH: Exactly.
COOPER: -- madman or whatever.
RANDOLPH: Yes, yes. And I saw the video and I -- and the initial tape. I knew there was -- it looked like he was trying to help some women. And I just felt a sickness, you know. And then it was an hour or two later, they put his face and his name on the screen. And I knew immediately.
And I messaged my family group chat that we had where that video was shared. And I said, that's Alex. That's the nurse from the ICU that took care of dad to feel that close to home connection. And we -- and it was one year to the day of the celebration of life. So it was fresh in our minds that we were talking about that.
COOPER: Alex Pretti was killed one year to the day that your dad -- after your dad died, it was his celebration of life.
RANDOLPH: Yes. So he died on December 10th, 2024. But his celebration of life was January 24th, 2025. And then same day --
COOPER: Anniversaries are hard.
RANDOLPH: Yes. It reopened that wound. And I knew right away, as I said, that what they were going to label him. And I knew how compassionate, how much humanity he had. And I couldn't be silent. So I immediately posted the video. I maybe should have consulted some people in my family before doing that.
COOPER: You posted the video of Alex honoring your dad in that hallway reading.
RANDOLPH: That's right.
COOPER: I wanted to immediately get ahead of the possible narrative. Just in general, in Minneapolis, we're exhausted, we're tired of being lied to. You know, this guy, he's taking care of veterans. He spends his day, day in and day out, working, you know, 12, 15-hour shifts, and like I said, overnights.
Maybe he was, you know, there to -- he saw ICE agents. And he wanted to make sure that people felt a sense of comfort and that they were being observed. And that if anything were to happen, that he was reporting on it. And there's people in the administration, in the highest-ranking members of government, that want to tell you that this person, a true patriot who honored my father's death and honored his human dignity, his life, and his moment of passing, to receive no human dignity, to be wiped away his humanity, and to be labeled as a domestic terrorist.
This -- we lost one of our best citizens in this city. We need more people like him in this city. We need less people in this city that are brutalizing us and committing those crimes. And we don't -- I don't think anyone feels that we're moving in a direction away from that. COOPER: We got word today that there was supposed to be a memorial service at the VA hospital for Alex Pretti. And a lot of people showed up for it. And apparently, the national VA sent word that they couldn't do that. And they could not honor him in that way.
RANDOLPH: Well, I'll tell you, so when I posted that video, the amount of outreach I've gotten from people all over the world, all over the country, nurses, veterans, and particularly Alex's coworkers and the other nurses that took care of my dad, they reached out to me directly and messaged me and said, hey, I also cared for your father -- I recognized them too, just like I recognized Alex.
They were all amazing people, and they, you know, served my dad selflessly in a time like that. I cannot imagine not allowing them to have that moment. I mean, what is the thought process there? I mean, this is their coworker. These are nurses. These are people that really honor veterans in human life.
COOPER: Look, I really appreciate you talking to us. Thank you. And I'm so sorry for the loss of your dad.
RANDOLPH: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
COOPER: Yes, thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Mac talking about his dad, Terrance Lee Randolph. He is remembered tonight.
We reach out to the regional VA for comment on today's memorial. A spokesperson told us, quote, "VA employees are welcome to memorialize Alex Pretti in their own way as long as they are respectful and it does not interfere with their work duties. To that end, Minneapolis VA Health Care System is working to schedule a memorial event. As with most organizations, VA policy requires employees to direct media inquiries to the appropriate public affairs officer."
I hope you'll join Sara Sidner and me tomorrow night. We're having a special town hall, the CNN Town Hall State of Emergency: Confronting the Crisis in Minnesota. That's tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN and on the CNN app.
That's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. See you tomorrow.
