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Alex Pretti shooting row: Border Patrol target ‘feels guilty’ over Minneapolis nurse's death; ‘If I had…’
Jose Huerta Chuma, an eyewitness to the January 24 shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents, feels guilty about witnessing the event.
An eyewitness to the fatal January 24 shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has come forward, saying he feels guilty over witnessing the tragic encounter.
Jose Huerta Chuma, the man pursued by federal agents at the time when Pretti was shot and died, is now in hiding. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Huerta Chuma is an illegal immigrant from Ecuador.
In an interview with CBS, the 41-year-old immigrant stated that he has lived in the United States for more than 20 years. He talked of hiding inside a nearby store when he saw the shooting that led to Pretti's death.
Read more: Who is Jose Huerta Chuma? Illegal alien at the center of Alex Pretti shooting case
“Maybe that never would have happened”
Huerta Chuma described watching the confrontation that ended with Pretti's death and replaying the moments repeatedly. “I do feel guilty, I do feel bad,” Chuma said, his voice breaking.
He said, “I think, maybe if I hadn't gone to that place, or I don't know, a little later or a little earlier, I mean, that never would have happened.”
DHS officials described Huerta Chuma as a "violent criminal illegal alien" who is at large. According to records examined by CBS News, Huerta Chuma has a history of traffic violations and entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct in 2018.
According to the New York Times, which cited court records from Minnesota, the plea was connected to an arrest for domestic abuse, which was later dismissed. Huerta Chuma described the domestic violence case as an argument with his spouse at the time.
Huerta Chuma has never been incarcerated in the state, according to a statement from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, which also stated that no felony convictions were discovered in his case.
Read more: Alex Pretti shooting: Tom Homan makes 5 big revelations at Minneapolis presser
“I am not a criminal”
Huerta Chuma immigrated from Ecuador in his twenties in the 2000s. He worked as a rideshare driver while raising his American-born children, CBS News reported.
On the day of the shooting, Huerta Chuma was working. “I'm not a criminal. I just was working that day. I was going to pick up the delivery,” he said.
Huerta Chuma claimed to have passed a car without license plates, travelling in the opposite direction, while he was driving along Nicollet Avenue. He described an "agent" staring at him from the car and started following him.
He said, “I didn't run or anything, I left very calm. I saw they were with ICE. I knew in my head they were ICE because they turned around so quickly when they [saw] my face.”
He left the vehicle and hid inside a local business for four hours that helped him out.
Huerta Chuma said he witnessed Pretti arrive and begin filming, as well as a Border Patrol officer shoving a woman. He claimed to have witnessed the agents grab Pretti's gun and tackle him to the ground.
"It all happened so fast," he stated, adding that he did not witness Pretti reaching for his gun or attempting to harm the agents.
He saw the ambulance arrive, but he said he knew “it was too late.”
