Just two weeks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) agents killed a 37-year-old woman, Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis, another shooting has occurred in Minneapolis on January 24 in which a 37-year-old nurse — Alex Pretti — was fatally shot.
The Department of Homeland Security said that Alex Pretti had “approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and “violently resisted” when they attempted to disarm him.
Many in the Trump administration have also stated that Pretti assaulted officers, compelling them to fire in self-defence. In fact, Gregory Bovino, Border Patrol commander-at-large, told CNN, “The victims are border patrol agents.”
However, videos and eyewitnesses offer a different view of what happened that fateful day, resulting in the death of Pretty — the
second shooting death involving federal officers in Minneapolis this month.
Who was Alex Pretti?
On Saturday, federal
immigration officers shot dead Pretti while he participated in protests following the killing of Renee Good.
According to his family, the 37-year-old was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital who cared deeply about people. “He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” said Michael Pretti, Alex’s father. “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”
Pretti was also described as an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed getting in adventures with Joule, his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog who also recently died. He worked for the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
His records show that Pretti had had no criminal record and his family said he had never had any interactions with law enforcement beyond a handful of traffic tickets.
An Associated Press report states that in a recent conversation with their son, his parents, who live in Colorado, told him to be careful when protesting. “We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the man was shot after he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. Officials did not specify if Pretti brandished the gun.
What do videos reveal about Pretti’s shooting?
However, videos from the shooting paint a different picture. Several visuals verified by Reuters and other news agencies show Pretti holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, as he tries to help other protesters who had been pushed to the ground by agents.
As the videos begin, Pretti can be seen filming while a federal agent pushes away one woman and shoves another woman to the ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the women, then raises his left arm to shield himself as the agent pepper sprays him. Several agents then take hold of Pretti — who struggles with them — and force him onto his hands and knees. As the agents pin Pretti down, someone shouts what sounds like a warning about the presence of a gun.
Video footage then appears to show one of the agents removing a gun from Pretti and stepping away from the group with it. Moments later, an officer with a handgun points at Pretti’s back and fires four shots in quick succession. Several more shots can then be heard as another agent appears to fire at Pretti.
Federal agents in Minneapolis wrestled Alex Pretti to the ground and secured the handgun he was carrying moments before shooting him multiple times, according to a Washington Post analysis of video footage.
Read more: https://t.co/gs55sapKJH pic.twitter.com/0LwulTgqLy
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 25, 2026
They shoot his motionless body several times from a distance after initially dispersing. At least 10 gunshots can be heard in the footage. In one clip, a man can be heard saying, “Where’s the gun?” as Pretti is motionless on the ground.
What do experts say about the videos?
Following the release of the videos from the shooting of Pretti, Darius Reeves, the former head of ICE’s field office in Baltimore, told Reuters that the federal agents’ apparent lack of communication was troubling. “It’s clear no one is communicating to me, based on my observation of how that team responded,” Reeves said.
He drew attention to signs that an officer appeared to have taken possession of Pretti’s weapon before he was killed. “The proof to me is how everyone scatters,” he said. “They’re looking around, trying to figure out where the shots came from.”
Brian O’Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, was quoted telling CBS that “the videos speak for themselves,” calling the Trump administration’s version of events deeply disturbing. He said he had seen no evidence that Pretti brandished a gun.
Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, described the federal government’s response as “amateur hour.” “Jumping to the end result of this investigation, or what’s supposed to be an investigation, is somewhat embarrassing for policing professionals nationwide,” Adams told the Associated Press. “It’s clear that professionals in policing are observing what’s going on and not liking what they’re seeing.”
US President Donald Trump has, however, defended the operations as necessary to reduce crime and enforce immigration laws. FBI Director Kash Patel suggested that Pretti had violated the law by bringing a weapon to the scene of a Border Patrol raid. “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” he said on Fox News. “It’s that simple. You don’t have that right to break the law and incite violence.”
Separately, Pretti’s shooting has triggered legal filings from state and local officials. A US district judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal officials from destroying or altering evidence related to the shooting, in response to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota’s attorney general, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Lawyers representing protesters in Minnesota also asked an appeals court to reinstate a lower court’s order that prevented violent retaliation by federal agents against protesters, citing Pretti’s death and the likelihood of a surge of people taking to the streets.
With inputs from agencies
End of Article
jadesportsbet https://www.koijadesportsbet.net