*

Video evidence clashes with official version of events

*

Minneapolis police chief says nothing indicates Pretti

brandished gun

*

Federal agents have killed two US citizens in Minneapolis

this

month

(Adds letter from Minnesota CEOs, statement from Obamas in

paragraphs 17-18; Sen Klobuchar comment in paragraph 24)

By Brad Brooks and Tim Reid

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Senior Trump

administration officials on Sunday defended the fatal shooting

of a U.S. citizen by immigration agents in Minneapolis even as

video evidence contradicted their version of events and tensions

grew between local law enforcement and federal officers.

As residents visited a makeshift shrine of flowers and candles

in frigid temperatures and snow to mark Saturday's fatal

shooting of Alex Pretti - the second shooting death involving

federal officers in Minneapolis this month - Trump

administration ‌officials stated that Pretti assaulted officers,

compelling them to fire in self-defense.

"The victims are border patrol agents," Gregory Bovino,

Border Patrol commander-at-large, told CNN's "State of the

Union" program.

That official line, echoed by Homeland Security Secretary

Kristi Noem and other members of the Trump administration on

Sunday, triggered outrage among local ​law enforcement, many

Minneapolis residents and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who pointed

to bystander videos that appear to show a different version of

events.

HOLDING A PHONE, NOT A GUN

Videos from the scene verified and ‍reviewed by Reuters

showed Pretti, 37, holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, as he

tries to help other protesters who had been ⁠pushed to the ground

by agents.

As the videos begin, ⁠Pretti can be seen filming while a federal

agent pushes away one woman and shoves another woman to the

ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the women, then

raises his left arm to shield himself as the agent pepper sprays

him.

Several agents then take hold of ‌Pretti - who struggles with

them - and force him onto his hands and knees. As the agents pin

Pretti down, ​someone shouts what sounds like a warning about the

presence of a gun.

Video footage then appears to show one of the agents

removing a gun from Pretti and stepping away from the group with

it.

Moments later, an officer with a handgun points at Pretti's

back and fires four shots in quick succession. Several more

shots can then be heard ⁠as another agent appears to fire at

Pretti.

Darius Reeves, the former head of ICE's field office ‍in

Baltimore, told Reuters that federal ​agents' apparent lack of

communication was troubling. "It's clear no one is communicating

to me, based on my observation of how that team responded,"

Reeves said.

He drew attention to signs that an officer appeared to have

taken possession of Pretti's weapon before he was killed. "The

proof to me is how everyone scatters," he said. "They're looking

around, trying to figure out where the shots came ‍from."

'VIDEOS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES'

Brian O'Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, told the CBS "Face

the Nation" program that "the videos speak for themselves,"

calling the Trump administration's version of events deeply

disturbing. He said he had seen no evidence that Pretti

brandished a gun.

Tensions in the city were already running high after a federal

agent fatally shot U.S. citizen Renee Good on January 7. Trump

officials said she was trying to ram the agent with her car but

other observers have said bystander video suggests she was

trying to steer away from the officer who shot her.

Federal authorities have refused to allow local officials to

participate in their investigation of the incident.

Chief executives of some of Minnesota's largest companies,

including Target, Cargill and Best Buy ( BBY ), published a letter

calling for the "immediate de-escalation of tensions and for

state, local and federal officials to work together to find real

solutions." ​They did not condemn ‍Pretti's shooting.

Former Democratic President Barack Obama and former First

Lady Michelle Obama issued a statement saying many of America's

core values were under assault. "This has to stop," they said.

The deaths of Good and Pretti have sparked large protests in the

Democrat-run city, although on Sunday morning the area where

Pretti had been shot was calm.

A woman wearing nursing scrubs ventured out ​in Sunday's

frigid temperatures to pay homage to Pretti, who she said worked

with her. When asked what brought her out, the woman began to

sob.

"He was caring and he was kind. None of this makes any

sense," said the woman, who asked not to be identified by name,

saying she feared retribution from the federal government.

In addition to large protests in Minneapolis since Good's

death, there have been rallies in other cities led by Democratic

politicians, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., since

Trump began sending immigration agents and National Guard troops

to those communities last year.

Trump has defended the operations as necessary to reduce

crime and enforce immigration laws.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota who has

filed to run for governor, told the ABC News "This Week" program

that Trump's surge of federal agents into Minneapolis was

"completely out of control and out of balance," and that they

should leave Minnesota. She described the shooting of Pretti as

"simply horrific."

Pretti's ​shooting triggered legal filings on Saturday night

from state and local officials, as well as others.

A U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order

prohibiting federal officials from destroying or altering

evidence related to the shooting, in response to a lawsuit filed

by Minnesota's attorney general, the Hennepin County Attorney's

Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. A full hearing

is set for Monday.

Lawyers representing protesters in Minnesota also asked an

appeals court to reinstate a lower court's order that prevented

violent retaliation by federal agents against protesters, citing

Pretti's death ‍and the likelihood of a surge of people taking to

the streets.