A 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse was shot and killed by US Border Patrol agents, operating under ICE, in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, 24 January, sparking widespread outrage, competing official accounts, and an urgent court battle over access to evidence.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital, died after an encounter with federal agents on a city street.
It comes two and a half weeks after an ICE agent shot another US citizen, Renee Good, in the face, as she was trying to drive away.
Videos circulating on social media show Pretti directing traffic away from an area where agents were operating and attempting to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground, witnesses said.
Footage reviewed by multiple journalists appears to show agents surrounding Pretti, deploying pepper spray, pulling him to the ground from behind and striking him.
During the struggle, one agent appears to remove a firearm from Pretti’s waistband and leave the immediate area with it. Moments later, a single shot is heard, after which Pretti stops moving. Several more shots follow.
Bystanders later attempted to cordon off the area with trash bins, saying agents walked away without preserving the scene.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that Pretti “approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and “violently resisted” as officers tried to disarm him, adding that “an agent fired defensive shots.” DHS further claimed Pretti had “no ID” and suggested he intended to harm law enforcement.
However, journalists reported that verified videos contradict that account. “Footage from the scene shows the man was holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when federal agents took him to the ground and shot him,” wrote New York Times reporter Devon Lum.
🚨 NEW: Visual analysis of the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis
1. At 0:57 and 1:05 in this video, a federal agent sprayed Alex Pretti with a chemical irritant — twice.
2. At 2:01 in this video, at least four agents were holding Pretti down when an… https://t.co/PEXEyTEQXk
— Meghnad Bose (@MeghnadBose93) January 25, 2026
State and local officials said federal authorities blocked them from the scene. Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told reporters his agency obtained a search warrant, but federal officials still denied access.
On Saturday evening, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials, seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the destruction of evidence. The filing described an “astonishing” departure from normal investigative procedures.
A federal judge granted the order, barring the administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to the shooting.
Federal officials have also declined to release the names of the agents involved, according to reporting by Ernesto Londoño of The New York Times.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said local law enforcement would continue its own work. “Our demand today is for those federal agencies that are operating in our city to do so with the same discipline, humanity, and integrity that effective law enforcement in this country demands,” O’Hara said. “We urge everyone to remain peaceful.”
Today, we lost another Minneapolis neighbor after multiple ICE agents pummeled him and shot him to death.
How many more people need to die or get shot before this ends?
President Trump, I am calling on you to put the American people and this American city first & get ICE out. pic.twitter.com/iGkziVRPUI
— Mayor Jacob Frey (@MayorFrey) January 24, 2026
DHS said it would conduct its own investigation rather than hand the matter to the FBI, a decision that drew criticism from journalists and civil rights advocates because the department had already issued a public account of the incident.
Political fallout followed quickly. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller accused critics of siding with “terrorists,” while Democratic lawmakers condemned the shooting.
Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts called the killing “another outright murder by federal officials,” adding, “If a Marine… did that in Iraq in the middle of a war zone, he would be court martialed because it is murder.”
Just hours after Pretti’s death, witnesses reported another tense encounter nearby in which federal agents pinned US citizen Matthew James Allen to the street as he pleaded, “I have done nothing wrong,” while his wife begged officers to stop.
Late Saturday, Pretti’s parents, Susan and Michael Pretti, released a statement calling the official claims about their son “reprehensible and disgusting.”
“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,” they said. “I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman.”
They added: “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
“Please get the truth out about our son.” pic.twitter.com/0TNW7H5qum
— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) January 25, 2026
