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Massive Winter Storm Dumps Ice And Snow On U.S.; Outrage In Minneapolis After Man Killed By Federal Agent; Private Jet Carrying 8 Crashes At Maine Airport; U.S. Flight Cancellations Hit Highest Level Since The Pandemic; Videos Contradict DHS Account of Fatal Minneapolis Shooting; Faith Leaders in Minnesota for Spiritual Care, Deescalation; Winter Storm Brings Dangerously Cold Temperatures to Texas; 15 Bodies Retrieved, Hundreds Rescued after Vessel Goes Down. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:22]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And welcome to another hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. Well, we are tracking two major stories at this hour. The first is a massive winter storm now pushing across the east coast and this after dropping heavy snow and ice across much of the country. Brutal cold pushing in with more than 800,000 customers in the dark travel.

It has been snarled on the roadways. And on Sunday it marked the worst day for flight cancellation since the pandemic. Also, outrage continues to grow in Minnesota after a federal immigration agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen.

The death of the 37-year-old who was an ICU nurse at a VA hospital and also the false narrative from top homeland security officials that is directly contradicting by contradicted, I should say by video evidence. It is fueling many of these new waves of protests and also calls for ICE to get out of the state.

Crowds of anti-ICE protesters they are braving those frigid temperatures in Minneapolis. They are denouncing the way federal officials are labeling Pretti a domestic terrorist as they put it. A Department of Homeland Security claiming the federal agents shot him out of self-defense. They allege, without providing any evidence that Pretti, quote brandished a firearm and attacked their officers.

Minneapolis officials say that Pretti was a registered and lawful gun owner and crucially that his death was captured on cell phone video from several witnesses. And at no point in any of that footage that's been reviewed by CNN is Pretti seen with a gun in hand.

This next video, it shows one angle of Saturday's deadly encounter, a warning the video is graphic and disturbing. In it you see Pretti in a baseball hat moving between an agent and a woman federal officers had just shoved to the ground. You see him even trying to assist that woman back up before the agents are on him. Pretti is sprayed with a chemical irritant. Officers a short time later, just seconds later, then opened fire multiple times.

As the U.S. continues to grapple with the most recent killing of a U.S. citizen by federal officer, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz held a press conference on Sunday. He appealed directly to the American people by saying that this killing is an inflection point for society and also posed a very stark question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D) MINNESOTA: I've got a question for all of you. What side do you want to be on? The side of an all-powerful federal government that can kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets? Or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such government?

We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody's going to write that children's story about Minnesota. And there's one person who can end this now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The Border Patrols commander at large. She continues to cast blame for the deadly shooting directly on Alex Pretti, faulting him for approaching the federal agents.

During an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, Greg Bovino pushed back against video analysis that appears to contradict the DHS account of the incident. But he repeatedly declined to provide any evidence at all to back his claims, instead redirecting questions to the federal investigation currently underway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY BOVINO, U.S. BORDER PATROL COMMANDER-AT-LARGE: Dana, you don't know he was unarmed. I don't know he was unarmed. That's freeze frame adjudication of a crime scene via a photo. That's why we have investigators. That's why we have an investigation that is going to answer those questions. How many shots were fired? Who fired shots? Where was the guns? Where were the guns located?

All those questions are going to be answered in the investigation. We're not going to adjudicate that here on TV in one freeze frame there. We don't know that agent was taking any gun away. That could have been the agents because we don't know that. The facts are going to come to light as to what exactly happened with an investigate. That's why we investigate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So that's the same Border Patrol authority who's saying wait for the facts while conclusively saying without evidence that it was Alex himself that was trying to interfere with authorities. CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House with the latest on the Trump administration's response.

[01:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump and his team doubling down on their hardline immigration policies after federal officers killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Even as this incident is revealing cracks in the president's own coalition, the White House deploying top officials to the airwaves on Sunday where they defended ICE agents' tactics as well as immigration policies more broadly.

They also shifted blame to state and local officials, particularly Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, along with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who they say are not doing enough to support federal law enforcement on the ground.

President Trump underscoring that message in a post to social media on Sunday evening, he wrote, quote, Democrats are putting illegal alien criminals over taxpaying law abiding citizens and they have created dangerous circumstances for everyone involved. Tragically, two American citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat ensued chaos.

But privately we are learning that Trump administration officials are concerned about the scenes playing out. And over at the Department of Homeland Security, we are reporting that officials are concerned that Secretary Kristi Noem's handling of this situation is putting federal law enforcement at risk of long term reputational damage.

Now, there are no plans at this time to change their policy posture. ICE for now will remain in Minnesota. The president's hope is that these protests can calm down and that he can go back touting some of the success that he believes ICE is having in apprehending illegal immigrants.

Now they are getting rare pushback on this, including from Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. He told our colleague Dana Bash over the weekend that Americans are asking what is the end game? And that in his view, President Trump is not getting good advice on this.

Now, something that was missed Saturday as this story developed is the possibility of a potential off ramp for federal officials here. We heard this in a letter from Attorney General Pamela Bondi to Governor Tim Walz. She wrote saying that if he repeals sanctuary policies and shares Medicaid, food assist and voter data, they could, quote, bring an end to this chaos in Minnesota. Democratic National Committee officials saying that is extortion. Betsy Klein, CNN, at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Back with us is CNN law enforcement contributor and former retired supervisory special agent of the FBI, Steve Moore. Steve, it's good to see you again. STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you.

SANDOVAL: So, Steve, DHS appears to really be going in circles here, saying that there's an investigation happening while also getting ahead and concluding that Alex Pretti was there, as they put it, to interfere with law enforcement to carry out a massacre, as they put it yesterday.

So if the Trump administration and its Border Patrol officials have evidence to substantiate that wouldn't they have provided it by now, given that they very quickly posted a photo of the pistol that was recovered?

MOORE: Well, I certainly can't comment on their mindset, but it would seem to me to be the logical thing to do and something that they have done in the past, that if you have information or evidence that would tend to -- tend to show that your side has got the right evidence, then you want to present that right away. And if you don't have it begs the question it doesn't exist.

SANDOVAL: Then there's a CNN analysis that shows that at least two agents involved in the shooting incident, that they appear to be wearing body cameras. And then there's also the fact that -- that Alex himself was possibly recording it, since we see a phone in his hand.

I mean, are you at all hopeful that we may see this footage from those cameras if it exists? Because I remember, if I'm not mistaken, after the shooting of Renee Good, the video that the agent involved was recording was eventually released, or at least it made it into the public eye.

MOORE: Sure. And I would expect that any evidence that tended to support the federal government's position on this would be released almost immediately. And, you know, they may be able to kind of hang on to it for a little while. If they say that, well, these are -- these are federal body cameras, therefore the film is evidence, and we're not going to release it until it goes to some kind of legal resolution.

I don't think that helps their case. And really, you know, what concerns me right now is that it appears that HSI wants to do the entire investigation themselves, when in my experience, it's always been the FBI that does the investigation following one of these types of shootings.

SANDOVAL: And per the latest CNN reporting, there seem to be some growing concerns within DHS and Border Patrol about the way that their leaders are handling this case. You know, as a former federal agent with the FBI, just, you know, in situations like that.

[01:10:00]

How much damage to the reputation of that other agency is potentially being done given all the controversy swirling around this shooting?

MOORE: Well, as an FBI agent who's had his agency bashed around by the left and the right for a while. I know that it hurts morale and it hurts the public perception of the agency. And right now, between the federal government, who's doing their best on this subject, to Mayor Frey and Governor Walz, who have all just been giving all law enforcement a black eye, not deploying Minneapolis police.

It's just -- and then calling ICE agents every name in the book, it is probably the worst time for law enforcement that I've ever seen when both sides are just spewing venom, most of which is just slander.

SANDOVAL: And as a seasoned federal officer, you know, it's now midnight in Minneapolis. It is Monday, the beginning of the workweek. What would you -- after such a difficult weekend, to say the least, in Minneapolis, what would you like to see in the coming days there on the ground?

MOORE: I'd like to see both sides take a step back. I think this would be logical. I know the ICE agents certainly don't look forward to their alarms going off and saying, hey, we're going to go out in the street again and there's going to be a bunch of people there blowing whistles in our face and jumping in front of us and trying to obstruct what we're doing.

And at the same time, if the Minneapolis government would send out their police to put a buffer zone in there, if the governor and the mayor would tone their rhetoric down a little bit, I think that would be the start. But see, then I'm getting into political things.

But as a law enforcement officer, what I would want as an agent right now is to be able to step back and do a hot wash on what's been going on and determine, you know, whether we're doing the right thing here. It's kind of like in the military, in aviation, if there's a crash, you do a stand down until you figure out what's going on. And do we have a safety issue?

SANDOVAL: No, without question. That certainly would be ideal to have Governor Walz working with the White House, but it's impossible to avoid the politics here. Do you think that can actually happen, though?

MOORE: I think it can. I don't think it will. I think there's, you know, it just seems to me, you know, from a law enforcement perspective, I can see how this could be handled in a day because I'm certain that the Minneapolis police officers aren't thrilled by what's happening. They would like to -- nobody likes to be on a protest line, but they would like to be out there making their city safer.

And the ICE agents are human beings. They have kids. They're people who want to go back to their normal lives. They certainly don't want to be in frozen Minneapolis for the entire winter getting spat on. They want to do their job. But maybe there's better ways for both sides to do their jobs.

SANDOVAL: Yes, no question. Everybody deserves to certainly make it back home at the end of the day, be it law enforcement officers and certainly those people who are just exercising their right to free speech and are taking issue -- MOORE: Absolutely.

SANDOVAL: -- with what they have seen on a daily basis. Steve Moore, as always, really appreciate your time and your analysis.

MOORE: Thank you, Paul.

SANDOVAL: Well, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, he's condemning the Trump administration's violent immigration enforcement. He's also urging Americans to stand up and to speak out following the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

In a statement, the former president writes, if we give our freedom away after 250 years, we might never get them back. Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decision we make, decisions I should say that we make, and the actions we take shape our history for years to come. This is one of them, writes former President Clinton.

And federal investigators they are looking into what caused a private jet carrying eight people to crash right after taking off on Sunday night in the state of Maine. And this comes amid the major winter storm that's thrashing the region.

A source telling CNN that the extent of injuries of the people on board that is still unknown at this time. Federal records do show that the planes registered to a business in the city of Houston. Minutes before the crash, controllers and the pilots can be heard talking about low visibility and deicing, but it's not immediately clear who's talking to whom.

I want to get more now from CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo on this developing situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, in this kind of weather, you've got your plane. In our attack, this was a Challenger 650. It's a workhorse business jet. There were supposedly eight people on board, which is pretty close to a full load. So you've got a loaded up plane and then you add on top of that snow and ice.

And of course, the biggest worry for that is that you what's called foul, your lifting service, your wings. When snow or ice builds up on the wings, then it destroys some of the lift that you need to get that plane off the end of the runway. And of course, that's why you go through the deicing.

But if you wait on the runway or you have delays before takeoff, et cetera, that deicing effect is reduced literally by the minute or by the second in the heavy snow.

The other problem you have, among others, you have visibility problem. You can have whiteout conditions and it can blow up very quickly. You have to have the limited visibility required at an airport for takeoff. But if you get gusting winds and it can shift second by second, you might have whiteout conditions just as you're trying to lift off and judge your, you know, the ends of the runway, et cetera.

And then finally, if the runway is at all icy or you've got crosswinds, you literally could exit the runway off the sides, which has happened before. So weather can challenge even a jumbo jet. And on this plane with a heavy load, it would be challenging if you had any buildup of ice or snow on the wing. So there's a lot to look at here.

(END VIDEO CLIP

SANDOVAL: And a blast of Arctic weather not just a threat to aviation, but also bringing much of the U.S. to a standstill. It's hitting the east coast with one of the biggest snowstorms in years. The latest impacts and what it means for millions when we return.

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[01:20:39]

SANDOVAL: It is shaping up to be a cold and dark night for more than 800,000 customers from Texas to Virginia as they are still without power after a massive winter storm that swept through much of the United States on Sunday, dropping snow and ice.

In fact, much of that dangerous ice remains on the ground on trees and power lines. Of course, that spells power outages.

In Mississippi the governor said that there has been, quote, catastrophic damage to at least one power distribution line. And the snow is also creating hazardous conditions over many roads in the area. And conditions they are forecast to worsen overnight with some of those temperatures plummeting.

In fact, right now the system is still seems to be dropping across, dropping various winter precipitation across parts of the Northeast. And as it pushes east, bitter cold temperatures appear to be moving in.

Sadly, at least 11 people have died, some of which here in New York City as temperatures drop to their coldest so far this winter. And the storm is taking a toll on air travel across much of the country with more cancellations now than any time since the pandemic.

The FlightAware, the tracking site on Sunday reports that more than 11,500 flights were canceled on that day alone and more than 5,000 flights were delayed. In fact, we want to show you the scene just hours ago at Boston Logan International Airport where almost all flights had to be canceled. And then there are also operations at other major airports like here, some in New York, Washington, D.C. they shut down operations for at least a few hours with Reagan national topping out at 90 percent of their flights having to be canceled.

And for parts of the east coast, the worst may still be ahead. A snow emergency has been declared in Philadelphia where they are expected to get up to a foot of snow. Plows are working around the clock to keep those roads clear. That's where we find CNN's Danny Freeman with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Philadelphia absolutely got pummeled by snow all throughout the day. In the early morning it was kind of that light, fluffy snow. But then by the time it got really to about 11:30 in the morning and then all through the afternoon, evening. It's been what you're seeing right here, this sleet, really icy, hard pelts. It's made it less of a snow globe and really, frankly, uncomfortable to be outside.

But I can tell you that the city of Philadelphia says this is the most amount of snow that the city has gotten in five years. More than seven inches clocked in the city today, but the city said that it was ready for it. They said they had a thousand workers and contractors working through the night into the entire day and evening hours. Also more than 600 pieces of equipment.

But as you can see, the challenge is still pronounced here because this is Market Street right here. This is one of the main thoroughfares in Philadelphia. You can tell plows have been out. I think that's a truck working on it right now. And yet still not all of the snow has been cleared. It just goes to show you how challenging this particular storm has been.

And I'll bring your attention to this area, this curve here around City Hall. We've been watching a lot of drivers slide and skid on this particular curve in City Hall just because the conditions are so icy and have been really challenging for motorists all around. So now the city is warning that there may be freezing rain coming overnight. The storm hopefully will be done by the early morning hours.

But again overnight, as this again mixture turns into something a little bit different. City officials are still warning people, don't get on the road if you do not have to. And then that could allow city crews to continue doing their work of making sure that these roads are cleared. Nevertheless, a lot of people still taking precautions. Tomorrow, the school district of Philadelphia notably closed. Kids are supposed to stay home tomorrow.

So hopefully this mess will not last too far into the week. But again, we're expecting low temperatures here and clearly a lot of snow, a lot of mess still to clean up. Danny Freeman, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Danny Freeman and all of our teams throughout the country braving the cold. To cover this story, let's continue the conversation on winter weather. I want to bring in Dinah Pulver, National Climate and Environment Correspondent on it for USA Today. Dinah, welcome to the program. Great to see you.

DINAH PULVER, NATIONAL CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Yes. Look, you have had your work cut out for you the last couple of days in covering this.

[01:25:00]

Just give, you know, you have viewers around the world that are watching. I'm wondering if you could just add some context here from your reporting perspective. I mean, how just the scale, the magnitude of this weather event affecting more than half of the country. I can't remember the last time that every state east of the Rockies was impacted by some form of winter alert.

PULVER: No, I think it's been a really long time. I saw several experienced meteorologists on social media this week saying that they could not remember a time when that many different zones of the National Weather Service were affected by a storm or that many states.

And just in total of the number of alerts and warnings that they put out this week, it was really kind of amazing. At one point, 30 of the 50 states in the U.S. were under some kind of weather advisory and there were, at any given time there were more than 200 million people under alerts.

SANDOVAL: Help me also underscore the fact that this is far from over. You know, in some of our reports recently, we've seen how those frigid temperatures are going to take over now in parts of the country. All of that wintry precipitation that fell, it's not going to melt anytime soon if any, in some cases will just freeze. So what can people throughout the country expect in the week ahead?

PULVER: Really, really cold temperatures. That is the one thing that's very much on the minds of the forecasters at the Weather Prediction Service. They are very worried about this huge cold air swath that's coming in behind the whenever this precipitation moves out, this super cold air is coming in with some of record breaking temperatures again with temperatures below zero and across. I mean, even in Florida where I am, it's supposed to be really cold by Monday night, Tuesday morning.

But in the vast areas of the country that like as you mentioned earlier, 800,000 customers without power, those people have a real concern in the days ahead because the weather service is saying it could remain below freezing for a week.

And if you are, you know, trapped in a home where you don't have any, you know, heat and it's that cold, it can be really dangerous for people so they need to, you know, have contingency plans. And it's one of the things that a lot of the different officials today were stressing to people to check on your neighbors, check on the elderly, check on your friends, make sure that people have what they need to be able to try to stay warm and get through this week ahead. That's going to be really rough.

SANDOVAL: Yes, no, it was just absolutely heartbreaking to read one of the many reports, one in particular out of eastern Kansas where officials there said that hypothermia was suspected in the death of a woman in Kansas. So it certainly speaks to just how far reaching the impact in parts of the country that are certainly not accustomed to seeing this on a yearly basis.

But look, I mean it was just what about a week ago that we saw even a dusting of snow in the Florida Panhandle. I remember reading those reports.

PULVER: Yes.

SANDOVAL: What does this, shall we call it unusual weather pattern tell you after your extensive experience covering climate change?

PULVER: Well, we're getting -- it just seems that we are getting more instances of extreme weather. It's -- it's snowed in Florida before. It snowed in Florida in 1977. It snowed in Florida -- I believe it was Christmas of 1989. But we're getting these kinds of extreme events all over the country more often than ever before.

You know, the National Weather Service records, you know, can just show you how often we get record cold or how often we get these extreme rainfall. And -- but also this winter in particular, there's just a lot of atmospheric conditions at play that are making things, you know, really unusual.

SANDOVAL: USA Today's Dinah Pulver, thank you so much for all of your reporting through this weather event. We know it's far from over so we'll let you get back to your reporting. Certainly stay in touch and stay warm.

PULVER: Thanks. It is -- I hope people will take the precautions that they need to this week to, you know, to stay warm. It's going to be a long week.

SANDOVAL: As you point out, the threat is far from over. Dinah, thanks again. We continue to follow our breaking news coverage of the follow up fallout of the deadly shooting in Minneapolis.

Still ahead, the victim's community speaking out on their tragic loss and also fighting back against the Trump administration's version of how Alex Pretti's killing unfolded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:54]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of the growing unrest in Minneapolis after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by border patrol agents over the weekend.

Despite the city's frigid weather, we've seen some large crowds out in full force on the streets, calling for the removal of federal agents from their communities.

And this comes as the Trump administration doubles down on its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. Top White House officials, they are still defending the officers' actions during the deadly encounter, and they're even blaming Minnesota officials for escalating the crisis.

CNN's Sara Sidner reports from Minneapolis and has more on how the community is coping with the loss of one of their own.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX PRETTI, ICU NURSE: Today, we remember that freedom is not free. We have to --

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Alex Pretti doing his duty as a nurse at the Veterans Hospital, saying a final goodbye to a soldier. Pretti, at 37, is now dead, killed by border patrol agents. He's the third person shot by federal agents here in less than a month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was an ICU nurse. He was a worker like myself. He was part of the fabric of my community.

SIDNER: He says Pretti was also a volunteer observer documenting what ICE was doing in his city. His death, like Minneapolis resident Renee Good --

RENEE GOOD, MOTHER KILLED BY ICE AGENTS: I'm not mad at you.

SIDNER: -- was caught in chilling clarity on cell phone video from several angles, with several witnesses.

NILSON BARAHO, SHOOTING WITNESS: It wasn't -- just the physical sound of it -- it was like trying to break our spirit, you know.

SIDNER: A warning -- what you are about to see is what Nilson Baraho saw outside the donut shop.

This is the clearest angle of the shooting as it happened. That is Alex Pretti recording on his cell phone as border patrol agents arrive outside the donut shop. He goes into the street waving cars through.

[01:34:52]

SIDNER: Now here is how the Department of Homeland Security described how Pretti approached federal agents.

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: An individual approached U.S. Border patrol officers with a nine-millimeter semiautomatic handgun.

SIDNER: That's not what video shows. It shows federal agents approach Pretti. All he has in his hand is a cell phone, not a gun.

Then you see him moving one protester away from agents while agents shove another to the ground. As he tries to help the protester they shoved, agents deploy pepper spray. Three wrestle him to the ground. More join in. From another angle, you see one agent punching him in the face with a canister of pepper spray in his hand. Pretti is on the ground under them. Nothing appears in his hands. You can see an officer in a gray jacket walk into frame.

Seconds later, agents shout, he's got a gun. One agent removes a gun from Pretti's belt. He steps away from the scene, carrying a firearm seen here in his right hand.

Turns out state authorities say Pretti has a license to legally carry a gun. But you never see him draw it.

Instead, an agent draws his gun while standing above Pretti and fires the first shot. Pretti survived, somehow rising up to his knees, then agents fired at least ten more times.

Pretti's body slumps, face down the street, lifeless. But federal authorities weren't done with their accusations against him.

GREGORY BOVINO, U.S. BORDER PATROL COMMANDER-AT-LARGE: This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.

SIDNER: Pretti's neighbor, Chris Gray, says that couldn't be farther from the truth.

CHRIS GRAY, ALEX PRETTI'S NEIGHBOR: Everything they say about my neighbors is a lie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Sara Sidner and her team for their ongoing reporting there out of Minneapolis.

A pediatrician who was among the first to assess Alex Pretti, who happened to be close by, described what happened before and after the shooting. The detailed account, it is included in a new filing, which was given under penalty of perjury in a lawsuit against the Trump administration that protesters brought recently.

I want to read you some of that statement directly from that doctor, which he goes on to write. "I'm a licensed pediatrician, and I have been practicing pediatric medicine in the city since I moved here."

He goes on to say, "I informed the ICE agents that I am a physician, and I asked to assess the victim. At first, the ICE agents wouldn't let me through. They repeatedly asked me for my physician's license, which I obviously didn't have.

But none of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR. And I could tell that the victim was in critical condition. I insisted that the agents let me assess him."

The doctor then goes on to write. "As I approached, I saw that the victim was lying on his side and was surrounded by several ICE agents. I was confused as to why the victim was on his side, because that is not standard practice when a victim has been shot. Checking for a pulse and administering CPR is standard practice.

"Instead of doing either of those things, the ICE agents appeared to be counting the bullet wounds."

The doctor then goes on to give a firsthand account of the injuries on Pretti saying, "The victim had at least three bullet wounds in his back. I asked the ICE agents to turn the victim from his side to his back. From that position, I saw an additional gunshot wound to the victim's upper left chest and another possible gunshot wound to his neck."

"I checked for a pulse, but I did not feel one. I immediately began CPR. Shortly after I started compressions, EMS personnel arrived and took over."

Well, the doctor then goes on to write. "I am devastated by the killing of a Minnesotan by multiple federal immigration agents. From what I could tell, the victim was not actively threatening ICE agents or the public. He was just yelling at the agents because he objected to ICE presence in our city. A person should not be shot and killed for lawfully expressing their opinions."

Again, those are the words from a doctor who was nearby and administered some of the first aid to Pretti after the shooting.

Faith leaders from around the U.S., they have traveled to Minneapolis to support those demonstrating against the federal immigration crackdown. Some 200 leaders from a variety of religious faiths, they have gone to areas with large immigrant populations.

They say that they are there to observe and to document the enforcement actions of ICE and border patrol agents, as well as other federal authorities.

[01:39:47]

SANDOVAL: Joining us now to talk a little bit more about this is Reverend James Galasinski joining us from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Reverend, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. I know it's a bit late there where you are.

REV. JAMES GALASINSKI, FAITH LEADER: You're welcome. It's great to be here.

SANDOVAL: So if you could just tell our viewers around the world, what was your mission in Minneapolis? You've been there among many faith leaders who have traveled there amid ongoing ICE operations. What was your objective?

GALASINSKI: Well, January 16th, I got a call out from organizers in Minneapolis, some of them friends that I've known for a long time. And they put out a call for clergy to come to Minneapolis, and they didn't give many details. And I felt a spark ignite -- something ignited in me that I needed to

go. And so I -- it was a moment of moral clarity and faith. And I acted and I asked my wife and she said, go. And I went.

And I was grieving the loss of -- the death of Renee Good. And I wanted to do something, something positive. And I want, I want from that last segment. I mean, it -- Trump and Bovino and Noem are not telling the truth. They're lying.

I want to -- I want to be a truth teller. I want the truth, and I want to see it for myself. So that in just a few days, I headed out to Minneapolis.

SANDOVAL: So you were there after the shooting of Renee Good.

GALASINSKI: Yes, I was -- I was there from Wednesday through yesterday and Saturday.

SANDOVAL: So knowing that, you know, ICE agents had already opened fire on one U.S. citizen, somebody who was supporting those anti -- the anti ICE cause on the ground. I mean, was it ever a concern for you and other members of your group as well, that things had taken a deadly turn, obviously with no idea what was about to happen days later?

GALASINSKI: It was a concern and well, I think ministers and clergy we're spiritually grounded people. I think we're natural de- escalators.

So we've been trained in our -- in our calling to pause, to breathe, to get to repeat phrases such as we are all related, we are all related. And to center ourselves in love and compassion and care.

And that's what we want from leaders in the Trump administration is to not lead with aggression, violence and retribution. Instead, care, community and love. That's what we want.

And there is some fear of ICE agents. I mean, I saw with my own eyes 12 ICE agents jump out of three cars and surround a pregnant woman, brown skinned. They were racial profiling.

The woman was scared, traumatized. She was -- she had a child in the car with her. I bore witness, a few other ministers -- we bore witness and saw it. And they -- she had papers.

She was here legally, but we went over to her car and started talking to her. And how are you doing? How are you feeling?

Well, she's traumatized, but she's also grateful we're there. We offered her prayer. We offered her care.

The ICE agents right now in Minneapolis are terrorizing legal immigrants and citizens.

SANDOVAL: You mentioned that one encounter or interaction with federal agents. I mean, at any point, though, did you fear for your safety, given what had taken place in that shooting of Renee Good? And, I mean, what was going through your mind during that moment?

GALASINSKI: Yes. Well, I was trying to film and I was -- well, the one thing I was trying to film from a different angle because angles are important, and they said, get back.

And you know what? I stepped back. I calmly stepped back. Sometimes being slow is safe. And I breathed a deep breath. I get grounded.

And you know, what I did is I was just a few feet from these ICE agents. I just looked into their eyes. I looked into their eyes.

I saw a young person, probably 20 years old. I'm wondering, why is he doing this? Why? Well, it's a good job. He wants benefits, so I don't know, whatever.

I look at another guy, I just look into his eyes. He's a human being who has love and his soul, you know, he's a person. And I saw him. He didn't have gloves on. I'm like, why didn't you have gloves on? Oh, I didn't know. I'm trying to treat everyone like a human being with care.

[01:44:44]

SANDOVAL: Reverend, I have a few more seconds with you. I'm wondering if you could offer just a final thought in the week ahead.

What is your message to the community that that you left behind for now, what do you hope will happen? That a spiritual message of support that you hope will resonate among everybody currently in Minneapolis amid these tensions?

GALASINSKI: We are all related. We are in this together. No one is free until everyone is free. Collective liberation.

We can do it. It's going to be a long road ahead. But together we can.

SANDOVAL: Reverend James Galasinski, thank you so much for bringing us up to -- bringing us up to speed on your visit and for your time.

GALASINSKI: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Our pleasure. We'll be right back with more. Stay with CNN.

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SANDOVAL: An absolutely brutal winter storm is sweeping across the U.S., leaving nearly 90 million people under extreme cold alerts.

Here's a look at the current wind chills. You don't need to go outside. Just look at this map. You can see just how cold it is throughout much of the country. We're seeing temperatures dip below zero in places like Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis.

Ice, it is one of the biggest threats right now to states down south where hundreds of thousands of customers are currently in the dark without power, some due to icy power lines, like some of these that you see along that remote road. Outages could last for days in some areas, which is a serious concern.

Schools in many major U.S. cities, they have canceled classes or at least moved to remote learning on Monday, including here in New York City.

Texans, this is what they woke up to. We want to show you some of the pictures of what people woke up to on Sunday after the worst of the winter storm blew through the region overnight. And that's leading to below freezing temperatures and hazardous driving conditions.

Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera with some of those pictures from Dallas.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While the worst of this arctic storm has passed, it has left a blanket of misery all across the region here in north Texas But as well as Oklahoma and into east Texas, as well.

There has been a considerable amount of snowfall, ice and sleet, and it has left many of the roadways looking like this, just a mess. And it is going to take some time for all of this to melt away.

And the real concern right now is the freezing temperatures. Temperatures are well down into the teens. Wind chills into single digits and that becomes a very dangerous situation.

And not just for people being exposed to these conditions, but it's going to take a considerable amount of time for these roadways to clear up and melt away.

Temperatures not expected to get above the freezing mark until sometime Tuesday morning perhaps, which means it will be some time after that. Before all of this melts away and the roadways get back to some semblance of normalcy. And that is going to take some time.

I've driven around the Dallas area throughout much of the day on Sunday, and it is extensive. Just how much ice and sleet and everything have covered the roads, and it's just very difficult to navigate.

So that's why emergency officials are urging people to continue staying at home. And it's also why we're seeing a slew of cancellations, not just for schools on Monday, but also going into Tuesday as well.

So that is kind of a sign of just how much longer this is going to last, even though the worst of the arctic storms have passed.

This is an event that is going to last several more days, and emergency officials insist that it still remains a very dangerous situation out there.

Ed Lavandera, CNN -- Dallas. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And all that snow, sleet and frigid temperatures, it made Sunday one of the most difficult days for those Buddhist monks that we've been telling you about for the last several weeks who are walking from Texas to Washington, D.C.

The journey, called the "Walk for Peace", started last October with the group currently trekking through Raleigh, North Carolina despite these wintry conditions, you see here.

The monks all bundled up, braving temperatures that were below freezing. But they say they are taking each step with care. They're often accompanied by their dog, Aloka, who has either walked alongside the group or ridden in a camper after undergoing some leg surgery. The monks are expected to reach Washington by mid-February.

CNN NEWSROOM continues after a short break.

[01:52:16]

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SANDOVAL: Let's get you caught up in another major story that we're closely following.

Desperate search and rescue operations in the Philippines, where a ferry carrying more than 350 people sunk in the south of the country. Officials say that the bodies of 15 people have already been retrieved, with more than 300 passengers rescued.

The Coast Guard says that the boat apparently encountered some technical problems, and that it sank after midnight, though the exact cause is not immediately clear.

The ferry sank in good -- in good weather and near an island village, according to the Coast Guard commander, who says that there have been no signs of overloading.

I love covering weather and space, so here's a combination of both with this view from space of this massive winter storm blanketing the U.S. Cloud cover almost over the entire country.

The system has been spreading large -- spreading large amounts of ice and snow from the southern Rockies all the way to the northeast. The size of that storm grew considerably throughout Sunday, and many areas will be seeing some frigid temperatures linger for days after the storm has come and gone.

So stay warm and stay safe.

And with that, thank you so much for watching the last hour of news.

I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I'll join you again in a few moments with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

[01:57:15]

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