Less than 40 minutes after federal immigration agents shot and killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis, Clayton Kelly was thrown face-first onto the sidewalk, tasting snow and street grime as a federal agent’s knee drove into his back.
Witness Account Details Alleged Retaliation by Federal Agents
A Minneapolis man says he was brutally beaten by federal agents shortly after a protest following the shooting of a nurse, raising questions about a crackdown on dissent and potential retaliation against witnesses.
- Clayton Kelly alleges he was attacked by federal agents while observing the scene of a recent shooting.
- Kelly had previously witnessed and publicly contradicted the official account of another ICE shooting in Minneapolis ten days prior.
- A federal lawsuit alleges agents used excessive force to deter observation and protest of immigration enforcement.
- Kelly and an independent eyewitness both sustained injuries during encounters with federal agents.
The incident occurred not long after Kelly and his wife, Alana Ericson, arrived in the area where Pretti was killed. Protesters were gathering, and agents from Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were flooding the area. The couple stated they simply wanted to observe the scene.
“All of a sudden,” Kelly said, “a federal agent started running toward me, pointing and yelling, ‘That’s him. Get him.’”
Ten days earlier, Kelly had witnessed an immigration agent shoot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg during a federal enforcement action in north Minneapolis. As Kelly told a local news outlet, an SUV with police lights chased another vehicle before agents entered a house. “I heard two shots before the area was just being swarmed by ICE immediately,” he recalled. Sosa-Celis was injured, and Kelly’s account differed from the Department of Homeland Security’s official narrative.
At the scene of Pretti’s killing, Kelly told agents they would find themselves “on the wrong side of history,” he recalled. After the exchange, he and Ericson began walking toward another section of Nicollet Avenue where people were congregating. As soon as Kelly turned his back, agents began shouting and running toward him.
“I had my hands up. I kept saying, ‘I’m leaving. I’m leaving,’” Kelly said.
Kelly is not alone in alleging mistreatment by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. His detailed account offers a clear example of how agents, ostensibly deployed for immigration enforcement, may have shifted their focus to a crackdown on dissent. In Kelly’s case, it raises the question of whether he faced retaliation for acting as a witness.
In December 2025, Minnesota residents and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a federal class-action lawsuit, Tincher v. Noem, alleging that federal agents participating in Operation Metro Surge used excessive force, intimidation, and arrests to deter civilians from observing, recording, or protesting immigration enforcement.
The complaint alleges retaliation against people engaging in constitutionally protected conduct, including the arrest of observers who were not interfering with federal operations. In January, a federal judge issued a limited injunction barring agents from retaliating against peaceful protesters and observers.
While federal agents pinned Kelly down, Ericson feared for her husband’s life, given Pretti’s recent shooting.
“I kept telling them he’s a U.S. citizen. They said, ‘We don’t give a f—,’” she said.
Kelly had previously undergone fusion surgery in his thoracic spine, a procedure to stabilize the back. “Several agents piled on top of me,” Kelly said, and one put his knee on the site of his surgical wounds. “They were sitting directly on my spine.”
“I was screaming that I couldn’t breathe, but I had almost no air left,” Kelly said. “An agent pushed the pepper spray nozzle right into my left eye and sprayed. I turned my head so I wouldn’t get it in both eyes, but my left eye was completely burned.”
“An agent pushed the pepper spray nozzle right into my left eye and sprayed.”
Pinned beneath multiple agents, Kelly said panic quickly gave way to fear that he might not survive. He said he was unable to catch his breath and felt his limbs go limp beneath the weight on his body.
Kelly was then forced to his feet and handcuffed, leaving deep indentations on both wrists that were still visible in photographs taken three days later. At some point, his phone fell out of his pocket. He was dragged to a vehicle and placed in the back seat, where he was told he was being taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis for detention.
After being pepper-sprayed, Ericson was unable to drive. A bystander offered her a ride home, where she and her mother-in-law spent the day calling attorneys and trying to determine where Kelly had been taken and whether he was alive.
An independent eyewitness, who did not know Kelly or his wife, corroborated Kelly’s account of the arrest, stating they saw agents rush Kelly, tackle him to the ground, and deploy pepper spray. After Kelly and Ericson left, the witness remained near Nicollet Avenue as federal agents continued clearing the area.
Moments later, the witness said they were grabbed from behind, thrown to the pavement, and sprayed in the face. Medical records from Hennepin County Medical Center show the witness sustained a fractured shoulder, requiring surgery and months of physical therapy.
Questions were directed to the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding the use of force by federal agents in Minneapolis, the detention of civilians, the seizure of personal property, and crowd control policies. No response was received by publication time.
Kelly was transported to the federal building in downtown Minneapolis, a facility commonly used for immigration detention and processing. Several of those detained alongside him, Kelly said, had directly witnessed or recorded the fatal shooting of Pretti earlier that morning.
Kelly said detainees were never informed why they were being held or of any charges. Federal officials discussed potential criminal violations but ultimately filed none. Shauna Kieffer, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild representing Kelly, said her client was never read his Miranda rights, as no statement was sought.
According to Kelly, no medical care was provided upon arrival, despite multiple detainees having visible injuries and repeatedly requesting assistance. One older man was bleeding from his elbow when brought into custody, and detainees used their drinking water to clean the wound while staff ignored their requests for help until a shift change.
Kelly and his family have been unable to recover his phone. At the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Kelly said agents showed him the phone, asked if it belonged to him, and told him he would not get it back. No one listed the device on his property inventory, and agents said they would seek a warrant to access its contents. A copy of the property inventory receipt does not list a cellphone among Kelly’s belongings. Photographs show his belongings in an ICE-labeled property bag with his name and U.S. citizen designation.
In an affidavit, Kelly said the confiscated phone contained photos he took of the January 14 shooting of Sosa-Celis, underscoring its evidentiary value.
Attorneys representing several detainees said federal officials considered charges of assaulting, interfering with, or resisting federal officers. Kieffer said the statute is broadly interpreted, but verbal objections or mere presence do not meet the standard. In Kelly’s case, “any movements of his body are simply because a bunch of grown men are pummeling him,” Kieffer said, referring to the video of his arrest.
Kelly estimated he was detained for roughly eight hours before being abruptly released. He sought medical treatment at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, where discharge paperwork documented his injuries as assault-related.
Kelly said he continues to fear retaliation following his detention. The following morning, he said, several federal vehicles drove slowly down his residential street, an unusual occurrence for the area.
Kieffer said her client’s fears are not unfounded, describing instances in Minneapolis where attorneys and observers reported being followed by federal vehicles after monitoring immigration enforcement activity, and in some cases, seeing agents parked outside their homes.
The emotional toll of the arrest, Kelly and his wife said, has been significant. “I’ve been having nightmares. This doesn’t feel like real life. It feels like a really bad dream that I can’t wake up from,” Ericson said. “After he spoke publicly about that shooting, I felt like he was already on their radar.”
