US Politics
ICU nurse with no criminal record who ‘cared deeply for people’: What we know about Alex Pretti, victim of DHS shooting
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Federal immigration officers have shot and killed another American citizen in Minneapolis, just 17 days after they fatally shot Renee Good.
The victim of the shooting was identified as Alex Pretti, 37. He was near 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, filming DHS agents during an operation.
Open-sourced video capturing the incident shows Pretti moving to assist a pair of individuals on the sidewalk near the agents, who then began pepper-spraying the group.
The victim is tackled by a group of at least five agents and dragged to the ground. The footage shows the Border Patrol agents struggling with Pretti on the ground and striking him when a gunshot is heard. A moment later, an agent fires multiple shots while Pretti is down on the pavement.
Ten shots were fired within five seconds.
Immediately after the shooting, the agents back off from Pretti’s body, and one officer — who appears to be holding a gun — runs away from the scene and hides behind a nearby car.
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The federal government — and President Donald Trump — claims that Pretti approached agents with the intent to carry out an attack with a pistol, which they claim was recovered from the scene of the incident.
They have not provided evidence he ever drew the weapon, and have declined to answer questions offering an in-depth timeline of how the confrontation unfolded.
Carrying a licensed handgun with a permit is legal in Minnesota.
What is known is that Pretti lived in south Minneapolis, he was born in Illinois and grew up in Wisconsin. His only criminal history was traffic citations, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry a weapon.
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The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement claiming that Pretti was carrying two magazines’ worth of ammunition on him and did not have an ID on his person.
Pretti’s parents reportedly told the Associated Press that Pretti worked as an ICU nurse. He obtained a nursing license in 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and KARE11 confirmed that he had worked for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, which provides services, including healthcare, to U.S. military veterans.
“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,” Michael Pretti, Alex’s father, told the Associated Press. “He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others.”
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Dr Dimitri Drekonja, an infectious disease doctor and professor at the University of Minnesota, said in a post on BlueSky that he formerly worked with Pretti at the VA. He said Pretti worked to help critically ill veterans and described him as having a great attitude, and recalled often discussing taking a mountain biking trip together.
“Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I [loved] working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these f****** executed him,” Drekonja wrote. “White. Hot. Rage.”
In an interview with People Magazine, Drekonja went on to describe Pretti as a “very, very skilled nurse.”
“He was very capable. When he gave a summary of the shift … [he] had all the information at his fingertips. He would tell me how the family was doing. He was a very, very skilled nurse,” the doctor said.
“Whether it was a small task, whether it was patient care, whether it was, ‘Hey, I can give you a ride over, we’re gonna meet for drinks after work.’ He was just a really kind guy.”
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WLUK reports that Pretti was a graduate of Preble High School in in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
According to the station’s report, Pretti was a regular performer with the schoo’s choir and in musicals. In addition, he played football and baseball as well as runnign track. He was a Boy Scout who sang in the Green Bay Choir.
At the time of his death, he was mourning the loss of his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog.
