Witness says DHS shooting was mocked; doubts inquiry (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: I couldn't believe what I was seeing, like what, what? And 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. I watched that and that is what it felt like they were doing and that is part of why I was like, what are you guys doing? Why would you jostle his body around like that? You're not even doing anything to help him. But I knew he was gone.

[00:00:40] Speaker 2: Well, for days she's been called the woman in the pink coat and she captured the crucial video showing exactly what happened when Alex Pretty was shot and killed by DHS officers. She had not come forward until today and her name, which is being revealed for the first time, is Stella Carlson. She's a children's entertainer. She runs a children's entertainment company. She's a face and body painter and an airbrush artist. All of it, a world away from anything she or anyone could possibly imagine. You knew he was gone then?

[00:01:11] Speaker 1: I knew he was gone. There was no way with the way his body was moving and I only knew that because of the way they were manipulating his dead body, just playing with it. Like they're in a video game. They were looking at us and laughing.

[00:01:24] Speaker 2: After the shooting?

[00:01:25] Speaker 1: Yes. I mean, the reason of escalation was due to the mockery. We understand why the MPD is unable to intervene on a level we would like. But you would like to think that their kindness, compassion, looking us in the eyes would occur in these moments when we're being attacked in the streets. And the MPD just felt like they were part of that team at that moment. I'm not talking about the whole department.

[00:01:56] Speaker 2: Were Minneapolis Police Department people on the scene?

[00:01:59] Speaker 1: Once the yellow tape was up, there were MPD officers who were standing in line, five of them I think. And they wouldn't look at us. Everyone just kept saying, just look at us. You're our representatives. You work for us. Why won't you look at us? Like a part of our community just was murdered in the street. Like you're our Minneapolis Police Department. Why won't you even just look at us to give us solidarity? You know, when we walk around with the whistles around our neck, it's not that we have, like we know we can't do much. But what we do know is that we can let our community at large know when we're walking around, like I see you. And if you're stuck in your apartment, I want you to see me. I'm another person walking around who is here to protect you as best I can with my whistle and my phone, which really feels not great.

[00:02:55] Speaker 2: And yet, you stood there with a phone, and you documented this. You didn't run away.

[00:03:02] Speaker 1: I am not one to run when I'm afraid. I just, no way was I going to leave Alex by himself undocumented. Like that wasn't an option. I mean, obviously somebody was just executed in the street. I knew I was in danger. We all were. But I wasn't going to leave if we weren't all cleared out. And if it wasn't for the collective actions over the past three weeks, I don't know if I would have been able to stay that long. But I knew that this was a moment, and we all have to be brave. And we all have to take risks. And we're all going to be given moments to make that decision. And I guess in my default mind of crisis there, that's where mine fell. And I'm grateful to myself, and I'm grateful to anybody who was supportive to me after to make sure I could get to safety and get that video uploaded to the right people.

[00:03:48] Speaker 2: The federal government says that they are investigating what happened. Have you been contacted by anyone from the federal government? FBI?

[00:03:57] Speaker 1: No. No, I have not. Border Patrol, Homeland Security? I do have a legal team now who are fielding much of that. And I am no longer accessible in those ways.

[00:04:08] Speaker 2: I talked to your attorney this morning. She said she had not received any outreach from the FBI or anybody from the federal government.

[00:04:15] Speaker 1: I do not think they have my name yet. Obviously, they will.

[00:04:20] Speaker 2: You've given testimony to state investigators.

[00:04:24] Speaker 1: Yes, yes.

[00:04:26] Speaker 2: Do you have confidence in a federal investigation?

[00:04:31] Speaker 1: No. No, I do not. I have faith in various representatives throughout our country who are trying to do the right thing and make sure that justice is served. I have faith in our local government in Minnesota. I think they are wanting to make sure to protect us and investigate it thoroughly. But they are trying to block that from happening. They wouldn't even let the investigative team come to the crime scene. I mean, their goal is to protect themselves and to spin stories.

[00:05:01] Speaker 2: It's incredible to me, though, that four days after this shooting, you have not been contacted by anybody from the FBI or the federal government. What does that tell you?

[00:05:17] Speaker 1: That they're protecting themselves, and they don't care about the truth of what happened. They're looking for their way to create the truth that protects them and allows them to move forward with whatever it is, which we all have various ideas of what that looks like, but whatever it is that their long game is in creating this violence in our streets, our streets. These are people from all over the country who have not been trained to intervene, kick down doors, break away families, leave children stranded in the street without their parents, having communities throughout Minnesota trying to come together to figure out who can foster all of these children who have been abandoned in apartments that have been kicked down with now no family around. I mean, how can you justify that? There's enough evidence for what they've been doing before it ever came to murder.

[00:06:11] Speaker 2: To you, this is murder?

[00:06:13] Speaker 1: Yes. I know it is. It was an assassination in full view in the middle of the streets of somebody who has served our country and continues to at the Veterans Hospital. Nobody should have to worry about being assassinated in their streets, especially in America, which nowhere it should be that way. I think people are feeling like there's nobody here to help us. There's nobody who can step in to protect us. And I think people are at a loss and shooken. Like, what do we do? What can we do? What is in our constitutional rights that don't seem to matter? The Constitution doesn't seem to matter. There's many people who have died. But we don't know what that looks like, people from being detained and having a medical crisis without intervention. I've heard of many stories where people are sick and they don't have their medications. Like, all of those human rights violations, those stories aren't being told yet. So this is only the beginning of a very long road. When this does end, we're all ready to move forward with productive ways to make this better. But how do we do that when our local officials in the state of Minnesota also have their hands tied? So that's, it broke down to, then it's us. We only have each other. Nobody's here for us. Nobody's going to help us right now because their hands are tied. So this is what we can do. I can document in case somebody gets detained, which is what I was filming, right? In case someone gets detained. Did I think I was going to be filming a murder? No. An assassination? No.

[00:07:59] Speaker 2: Do you worry about you becoming a target? Because you've spoken out?

[00:08:03] Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Yes. But yeah, I hope that me coming forward and doing this allows others to do it with me. I think there's safety in more of us taking those risks. But I understand we cannot all do that. This is just one more moment to tell the truth, one more moment to, I'm just here to represent all the work we're doing, and I'm here to represent the truth. I'm not here to represent me. I'm here to represent we. I care about my community. I care about my state and my country. And this is one small thing I can do.

[00:08:43] Speaker 2: That was Stella Carlson, who provided crucial evidence for whatever investigation may be done. Perceptive now from former Minneapolis Police Chief Madario Arandondo. It is incredibly brave of her to come forward. She didn't have to.

[00:08:57] Speaker 3: Yeah. Anderson, what I saw from Ms. Carlson is that I saw both courage, but I also saw vulnerability. One of the things that stood out to me as well is it was almost this appeal to leaders that we just want the truth. The people just want the truth. As tough, as difficult as it may be, she's saying have the moral courage. It may not be pretty, but tell us the truth.

[00:09:23] Speaker 2: What's so stunning is, I mean, first of all, had she not videotaped this and had the bravery to stand there five to 10 feet away from this, and the others also, there were multiple people from different angles, the lies would stand. And who knows how many other lies have been told when there's not cameras visible.

[00:09:43] Speaker 3: Yeah, and unfortunately, there's been situations throughout the country where these engagements, these interactions with police, have not been captured on video. And so communities left to see what they know is the truth against another narrative. And so, again, courage, vulnerability, but bravery. And you can sense that.

[00:10:07] Speaker 2: Do you think the arrival of Tom Holman is going to make much of a difference in terms of actually what's happening on the ground, the tactics being used, the individuals who were roaming the streets masked?

[00:10:18] Speaker 3: Yeah, I think people are going to be expecting a change. They're going to be expecting a change in the tactics. You know, borders are home and being here. That's something different. But, Anderson, if the people do not see a change in the tactics, none of it's going to matter. So they're going to expect change.