Just over two weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, a second individual was shot and killed by another agent in the city. The victim was identified soon after the initial incident as 37-year-old Alex Jeffery Pretti. Pretti was at the site of a demonstration on Nicollet Avenue against the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 when he was tackled by federal agents and fatally shot.
Pretti was an ICU nurse at a local veteran affairs hospital in Minneapolis. In a statement released by a former colleague on CNN, he was described as having been a “great guy” and “an amazing nurse”. According to CBS, a statement from his father details how Pretti “cared deeply about people and he was very upset about what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE”. As a result, Pretti was quick to take a stand alongside his neighbors. CNN states that ICE had already gathered information on Pretti from a previous encounter where he had reportedly been tackled by federal agents and broken a rib.
Immediately following the shooting, several different witnesses posted footage they had taken of the incident. The videos showcase the events as follows:
Pretti can be seen filming the agents—his phone in his right hand up by his chest, and his empty left hand at his side. A nearby ICE agent can be seen shoving another protester, and as the individual stumbles backward, Pretti puts an arm around them to help them regain stability on the icy ground. The same agent can then be seen pushing a different woman to the ground next to Pretti and the other individual. Pretti proceeds to get between the woman and the agent, before he and the woman are immediately peppersprayed. Pretti raises his empty left hand above his head. As the woman scrambles away from the scene, several more agents begin rushing at Pretti and he is brought to the ground. The agents begin beating down on him, during which an agent can be seen removing what was allegedly a firearm from its holster on Pretti’s waist. Upon doing so the agent can be heard exclaiming “gun”. Immediately following the exclamation, another agent proceeds to fatally shoot Pretti in the chest. The agent continues shooting at Pretti about nine more times before backing away.
White House officials responded to the shooting by suggesting that Pretti had violent intentions during the encounter. They stated that the shots were fired “defensively”, citing a statement from authorities that said Pretti had been carrying a firearm. There were several different members of the Trump Administration who echoed this sentiment: According to AP News, Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino stated that Pretti had “violently” “brandished” his weapon, intending to “massacre law enforcement”. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel similarly claimed that Pretti “brandished” his weapon and “attacked” the agents. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller referred to Pretti as an “assassin”, which was a statement Vice President JD Vance proceeded to repost online. In a post on Truth Social regarding the incident, President Trump referred to Pretti as a “gunman”.
In a later press conference, when asked about whether or not he agrees with the assessment that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist”, Trump stated that he “hadn’t heard” those accusations, but that he views the shooting as an “extremely unfortunate incident”. He then followed by saying that he did not like that Pretti was carrying a gun with “two fully loaded magazines”. There is no direct evidence to back the president’s claim about the loaded magazines.
According to AP News, Pretti’s family stated after the fact that Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon in Minnesota. The Minnesota BCU states that it is legal to carry in public so long as the individual has a permit to do so. Moreover, concealed carry is an action that is protected by the second amendment of the United States Constitution.
In the aforementioned Truth Social post, Trump posted a now-viral photo of the alleged gun that the ICE agent reportedly removed from Pretti’s person. Netizens on X have since reverse-image-searched the photo, apparently finding that the photo predates the incident by several days. The photo was, according to these netizens, found to have originated on a Reddit post from about a week prior to Pretti’s death.
Pretti’s family released a statement, seen on MSN, soon after the incident, expressing their wish for their son’s name to not be tarnished by far right government officials; “The sickening lies told by the administration about our son are reprehensible and disgusting…Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man”. In the statement, the family provides insight into Pretti’s character, stating, “Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital…I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman”.
The night of the incident, the community in Minneapolis came together to honor Pretti’s memory. According to the Minnesota Reformer, on the night of Jan. 24, over 1000 civilians gathered in Whittier Park through subzero temperatures to mourn and stand vigil for Pretti. Small businesses were handing out warm foods, and Glam Doll Donuts, the restaurant across the street from the site of the incident, stayed open after hours to provide a place for citizens to stay warm in the abnormally cold temperatures. Immediately following the vigil, civilians marched in protest of the escalated violence against Minneapolis at the hands of ICE.
According to ABC, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz visited the memorial site on the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 28. Walz has consistently expressed frustration over the lack of cooperation from the Trump Administration in bringing ICE to the Twin Cities. “We just need [ICE] out of here, and we need accountability for what has happened”.
