Minnesota officials moved on Sunday to prevent US Homeland Security officers from destroying or altering evidence after federal immigration agents fatally shot a 37-year-old intensive care nurse in Minneapolis, an incident that has intensified accusations of federal abuse and a cover-up.

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order late Saturday, barring Homeland Security personnel from tampering with evidence related to the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, after state investigators said they were blocked from accessing the public sidewalk where he was shot.

Pretti was killed early Saturday morning in Minneapolis’s Whittier neighborhood during an immigration enforcement operation, marking the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents in the city this month.

Federal officials immediately defended the agents, claiming they acted in self-defense and portraying Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” who intended to “massacre” officers.

However, multiple bystander videos and sworn witness statements appear to contradict that account.

In the footage, Pretti is seen holding a phone as officers tackle him, pin him face down and shoot him in the back, with what sounds like at least 10 shots fired.

One eyewitness said in a court filing that Pretti was not facing agents when they seized him and did not appear to be resisting.

“It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help [a] woman up,” the witness wrote.

Pretti was a US citizen with no known criminal record, Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said.

The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti was armed, and O’Hara confirmed he had a lawful permit to carry a firearm, but there is no verified evidence that he brandished a weapon during the encounter.

One video appears to show an officer removing Pretti’s gun before another agent opened fire.

Senior Trump administration officials doubled down on their defense of the agents.

“This was an incredibly split-second decision that had to be made by ICE officers confronting a very complicated, violent situation,” Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on NBC’s Meet the Press, adding that Pretti was “interrupting an ICE operation.”

Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official who commanded the operation, told CNN that “the victims are the Border Patrol agents,” adding that “the suspect put himself in that situation.”

Minnesota officials and Democrats rejected those claims, accusing federal authorities of pushing a predetermined narrative.

“Once again DHS has come out with a predetermined narrative that contradicts everything we saw with our own eyes,” said Democratic US Representative Kelly Morrison.

“There are serious concerns about the integrity of this investigation,” she said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the federal government cannot be trusted to investigate itself.

“We continue to hear that these folks can do whatever they want,” Walz told reporters.

“And what I’m telling you is they will not,” he said, adding, “There will be justice to Minnesotans.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said DHS blocked its investigators from the scene, forcing the state to obtain a rare search warrant for a public area.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it would not investigate the agent who shot and killed another Minneapolis resident, Renee Macklin Good, 37.

Against this backdrop, Walz said the state is logging evidence for possible future prosecutions of federal agents.

In a rare break with the White House, Republican US Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana called for a joint federal and state investigation.

“The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing,” Cassidy wrote on X.

“The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake.”

Civil rights groups, gun owners’ organizations and local officials have also called for a full and transparent investigation, as protests spread in Minneapolis and other US cities against aggressive federal immigration enforcement.