Federal immigration officers shot and killed a 37-year-old man in the frozen streets of Minneapolis, drawing more protests and fierce outrage from a city shaken by Donald Trump’s weeks-long surge of agents.
Video footage from Saturday morning’s scene appears to show several officers tackling a man who was filming officers in the street with other demonstrators. As agents wrestled with the man, at least 10 shots were fired within five seconds.
The man was identified by his family as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a U.S. citizen and an intensive care unit nurse.
The latest fatal shooting in Minneapolis, roughly two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good, also follows widespread demonstrations and fierce resistance against what city officials are calling a federal “occupation.”
Minnesota officials have repeatedly urged the president to withdraw federal officers from the state, with Governor Tim Walz stressing that state and local law enforcement are doing everything they can to de-escalate while Homeland Security agents cause “chaos and violence.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff and the mastermind behind Trump’s immigration strategy, said Pretti was a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement,” but did not provide any evidence to back up the claim.
The surge is Homeland Security’s largest immigration enforcement operation yet, with officers facing allegations of unlawfully targeting immigrants and citizens alike and facing off against protesters in violent clashes.
Minnesota officials have also sued the administration to stop the surge, alleging the operation is a politically motivated and unconstitutional attack on the state.
The Department of Justice, meanwhile, has launched a criminal investigation into Governor Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other Democratic officials in the state, which the Trump administration has accused of obstructing operations. Officials there have roundly rejected the allegations and defended their response to what the mayor has called “chaos and danger” brought on by the Trump administration.
How the shooting unfolded
Video footage from several bystanders at the scene shows a man whose parents said was Alex Pretti filming officers with his phone on Saturday morning with other protesters and observers.
On Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis, protesters were heard blowing whistles and shouting at agents.
In one video, Pretti can be seen in the middle of the street waving for cars to pass. An officer is seen shoving a person wearing a brown jacket, green skirt and black tights and carrying a water bottle. That person reaches out for a man believed to be Pretti and the two embrace.
That same officer then shoves him in his chest and the pair both fall back.
At least seven more officers surround him. One is on Pretti’s back and another appears to strike a blow to his chest while holding a canister. Several officers try to bring his arms behind him. The officer holding the canister then strikes the man near his head several times.
An officer is seen unholstering his gun, and another officer appears to be holding a pistol as he runs from the clash.
A shot then rings out while officers are still struggling with Pretti, who then collapses.
It’s unclear which officer fired. The officers then back off after the first shot, and at least nine other shots are heard as Pretti lies motionless on the street.
A woman filming from the sidewalk in front of the agents screams out in horror and yells “what the f*** did you just do?” A voice from footage filmed behind a storefront window on the other side of the street can be heard saying, “Not again. Are you f***ing kidding me? That guy’s dead.”
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the state’s chief investigative agency, said it was not allowed access to the scene.
Who was Alex Pretti?
Pretti attended the University of Minnesota and was listed on LinkedIn as a “junior scientist” at the University of Minnesota Medical School starting in 2012.
He was issued a state license to be a registered nurse in 2021, and it remains active through March 2026. He reportedly graduated from Green Bay Preble High School in 2006.
His father Michael Pretti said in a statement: “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.
“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.”
He said he had warned his son to be careful while 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. And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
Pretti reportedly had a license to carry a concealed firearm and was apparently doing so at the time he was shot.
Michael Pretti said the first they heard of the shooting was when they were called by a reporter for the Associated Press. He said: “I can’t get any information from anybody. The police, they said call Border Patrol, Border Patrol’s closed, the hospitals won’t answer any questions.”
While not identifying Pretti as the shooting victim, Walz said he was a Minnesota resident and “all of us understand what happened this morning and the tragedy of it.”
Moments earlier at a separate press conference, Gregory Bovino, who is leading Trump’s surge into Democratic-led cities, claimed he “wanted to do maximum damage to agents.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara described the victim as a 37-year-old white man and “lawful gun owner” with no serious criminal history with a record that only included some parking tickets.
DHS claims officer fired ‘defensive shots’ as Trump uses shooting to rage at Democrats
In the government’s initial statement, the Department of Homeland Security claimed Pretti was armed with a “9mm semi-automatic handgun” and two magazines of ammunition. Officials circulated a photo of the weapon to Fox News and then included the image in a press release.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said officers fired “defensive shots” and after they “attempted to disarm” him but he “violently resisted.”
Federal officials have not specifically answered whether Pretti drew his weapon or explicitly made any vocal threats to officers before the shooting occurred. Video of the incident, while incomplete, does not show this taking place, and instead an agent appears to disarm the man before he is shot.
Bovino said an officer who fired his weapon is an eight-year veteran of Customs and Border Protection.
The president responded on his Truth Social account with a rant accusing Democratic officials in the state of corruption and fraud.
Less than two hours after the incident, Trump posted a photo of the alleged gun carried by the victim. “This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off?” Trump wrote.
He then raged at Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and claimed that Minnesota has “stolen” billions of dollars from the federal government. “We are there because of massive Monetary Fraud, with Billions of Dollars missing, and Illegal Criminals that were allowed to infiltrate the State through the Democrats’ Open Border Policy. We want the money back, and we want it back, NOW,” Trump continued.
The Twin Cities are home to roughly 80,000 people of Somali ancestry, the vast majority of whom are legal residents or American citizens. But the president — seizing on a series of fraud cases involving government programs where most of the defendants have roots in Somalia — is surging federal law enforcement and Justice Department resources into the state as part of his nationwide mass deportation campaign.
Last week, the Pentagon was reportedly preparing more than 1,500 troops for possible deployment to Minnesota following the president’s recent threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to suppress protests against his agenda.
Trump accused Minnesota officials of "insurrection" in his first response to Saturday's killing.
Minnesota readies National Guard and urges Trump to pull ICE out
The Minnesota National Guard, which has been on standby throughout the surge, will assist local police responding to unrest. Officials in the state have urged calm in the wake of the shooting as protests against the surge remain ongoing and fluid.
“We want calm and peace and normalcy back to our lives. They want chaos,” Walz said in remarks Saturday afternoon.
He called on Trump directly to “remove this force from Minnesota” and warned that law enforcement officials in the state are maintaining records of clashes for the “future prosecution of ICE agents and the officials responsible for this.”
“We’ll keep the peace … and we’ll see this occupation end,” he said. “We’ll continue to be the adults in the room, the decent human beings in the room, who keep the peace.”
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?" Mayor Frey said in a separate press conference Saturday. "How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?"
The state’s two Democratic U.S. senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith urged ICE to leave the state. Klobuchar said Trump and Republicans must “Get ICE out of our state NOW.”
How many people has ICE killed?
Federal immigration officers have fired on people more than a dozen times since Trump returned to the presidency last year, killing at least five people, including Pretti and Good.
At least seven people have been injured in shooting incidents over the last year, and in at least 15 other incidents, immigration officers held people at gunpoint but didn’t shoot. There have been countless deployments of riot control weapons such as rubber bullets, pepper balls and chemical sprays, including at point-blank range.
The Independent’s review of federal records and an analysis from The Trace likely represent an undercount, as thousands of officers continue to surge into Minneapolis and other Democratic-led cities to support Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
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