Federal Agents Fatally Shoot ICU Nurse in Minneapolis as Video Contradicts Official Account

 Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care VA nurse who dedicated his career to serving veterans, was shot and killed by federal Border Patrol agents Saturday morning in south Minneapolis. This is at least the seventh fatal shooting by federal officers since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025. Three of those individuals have been United States citizens, and two of those incidents have happened in January 2026. Records indicate there have been 27 shootings by federal agents during the same time period.

Video footage captured by multiple bystanders directly contradicts the federal government’s account of the shooting at the intersection of 26th Street West and Nicollet Avenue, where Pretti was killed during what authorities described as a “targeted operation” against an undocumented immigrant wanted for violent assault.

According to footage, Pretti was standing in the street holding his cellphone, not a weapon, as the Department of Homeland Security suggested, filming federal agents when the confrontation began. Video shows him attempting to help another bystander who had been shoved to the ground by a federal agent.

At that point, agents moved toward Pretti. One officer shoved him in the chest, and multiple videos show him being pepper-sprayed before approximately six to seven masked federal agents tackled him to the ground. The footage captures agents striking Pretti multiple times, one appearing to hit him near the head and chest with what witnesses described as a canister, as they attempted to restrain him and force his arms behind his back. Accounts show one agent removed Pretti’s holstered handgun from his body, then walk away with it.

As Pretti was brought to his knees with agents applying pressure to his back, one agent can be seen drawing a firearm from within the group and aiming it at Pretti’s back at close range. The video then shows the agent firing what appears to be the first shot, followed immediately by a barrage of additional gunfire as other agents also drew their weapons.

Analysis by The New York Times determined that at least 10 shots were fired within a span of five seconds. After the initial shots, several agents backed away as more rounds were discharged at Pretti, who then lay motionless on the pavement. 

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement Saturday afternoon claiming that “an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and that “the officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted.” McLaughlin stated that “fearing for his life and the safety of fellow officers, an agent discharged defensive shots.”

McLaughlin went further, characterizing the incident as an attempted mass casualty event.

However, multiple videos from different angles, none of which show Pretti holding a weapon before agents tackled him, directly refute this narrative. 

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that while Pretti did possess a firearm, “we believe he is a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.” Minnesota law allows open carry of firearms with a valid permit. O’Hara noted that Pretti’s only interactions with law enforcement in his record were minor traffic tickets, and that the city had been given “very limited” information by federal authorities about what led to the shooting.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz delivered criticism of the federal government’s handling of the shooting, calling DHS statements a deliberate attempt to “spin” the narrative before any investigation could be completed.

“Thank God, thank God we have video, because according to DHS, these seven heroic guys took an onslaught of a battalion against them or something,” Walz said. “It’s nonsense, people. It is nonsense and it’s lies.”

The governor accused federal authorities of attempting to manipulate public perception: “They’re telling you not to trust your eyes and ears.”

Walz, who spoke twice with the White House on Saturday, demanded that President Trump immediately end what DHS has called its “largest immigration operation ever” in Minnesota.

“Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,” Walz said in a statement posted shortly after the shooting. “The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”

Most significantly, Walz announced that Minnesota would conduct its own investigation into the shooting, explicitly rejecting federal oversight.

“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference. The mayor called on President Trump to “act like a leader” and withdraw federal agents from the city.

Saturday’s shooting occurred amid what DHS officials have called the “largest immigration operation ever conducted” in U.S. history. Operation Metro Surge began on December 1, 2025, with the deployment of more than 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, with an additional 1,000 agents announced on January 12. On January 18, Trump announced he was readying the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division based in Alaska to potentially deploy to the Twin Cities.

According to DHS, more than 10,000 individuals have been arrested over the last year, which the department characterizes as targeting “criminal illegal aliens.” However, immigrant advocates and local officials have documented numerous cases of U.S. citizens (including off-duty police officers) being stopped, detained, and in some cases, subjected to aggressive tactics by federal agents.

On January 7 Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three, was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. Good was shot multiple times, including in the head, as she attempted to drive away after filming ICE agents who were blocking the street. DHS immediately labeled Good a “domestic terrorist” who had tried to “weaponize her vehicle” to run over agents, but video evidence contradicted that account, showing Ross was not in the path of the vehicle when he fired.

Good’s death has triggered weeks of sustained protests, with residents taking to the streets at all hours, blowing whistles and playing musical instruments to alert communities to ICE presence. Confrontations between agents and demonstrators have escalated, with federal officers employing tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and rubber bullets to disperse crowds.

On Friday, January 23, just one day before Pretti’s death, approximately 15,000 people braved subzero temperatures to march through downtown Minneapolis in what organizers called an “ICE OUT!” day of action. More than 100 organizations, including labor unions, clergy, childcare workers, and immigrant advocacy groups, participated in the coordinated protest, with many businesses across Minnesota closing for the day in solidarity.