Who is Stella Carlson? Woman in pink jacket who filmed Alex Pretti's killing reveals details; 'knew he was gone'

Stella Carlson has been identified as the woman in the pink jacket whose video of Alex Pretti's killing countered the narrative of the Trump administration.

Stella Carlson's video of Alex Pretti's shooting has gone viral for offering a counter to the Donald Trump administration's narrative. When the 37-year-old nurse was killed by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 24, the Trump administration initially tried to blame Pretti.

People stand at a makeshift memorial site, where a man identified as Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal immigration agents trying to detain him, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (REUTERS)

Officials said that the agents had only fired in self defense and Pretti was armed. They also mentioned recovering a firearm from him. However, amid all this, a video from a bystander offered a different perspective. It showed how Pretti was far from a ‘domestic terrorist’ as some officials had painted him to be, and was instead helping another person when he was killed.

Now, Carlson has spoken about her experience. “I remember him arching his back and his head rolling back. I knew he was gone because I watched it. And then they come over to try to perform some type of medical aid by ripping his clothes open with scissors, and then maneuvering his body around like a rag doll, only to discover that it could be because they wanted to count the bullet wounds to see how many they got, like he’s a deer,” she told CNN.

Who is Stella Carlson?

Carlson was reportedly going to spend Saturday morning painting children's faces at a church. She said she was an active participant in her community. Carlson added that she'd spent the last three weeks learning about mutual aid and participating in grassroots efforts to warn her neighbors about impending federal immigration action, as per CNN.

On her way to work, she heard the whistles which warned of arrival of immigration officers. Carlson, wearing her pink jacket that'd later become easily recognizable, headed down Nicollet Avenue. This is when she saw Pretti's shooting unfold.

Carlson had already gotten out of her car and began recording by then, but said she had no idea Pretti was armed. Carlson admitted that if she knew, she wouldn't have gotten that close. After the shooting, Carlson recounted what she'd seen in a sworn statement. She noted that nobody in the federal government had been in touch with her as part of their investigation.

While her name has been blocked out, a copy of the witness statements give more insight. A person whose job description fits Carlson's and whose movements that day were akin to hers, detailed what happened to Pretti in a court document. The person said they were from the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis and was a children's entertainer specializing in face painting. '

The person said they were getting ready for work when they heard the whistles and then drove down Nicollet Ave. They described how Pretti was attacked and shot by the Border Patrol agent when he was trying to help. “I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and Idon't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don'tknow what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not tellingthe truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building,” the witness had said in the statement.