ICU nurse with no criminal record who ‘cared deeply for people’: What we know about Alex Pretti, victim of ICE shooting
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have shot and killed another American citizen in Minneapolis, just 17 days after they shot and killed 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 ICE agents during an operation.
Video capturing the incident shows Pretti moving to assist a pair of individuals on the sidewalk near the agents when they 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 ICE 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 ICE agents back off from Pretti’s body, and one — who appears to be holding a gun — runs away from the scene and hides behind a nearby car.
The federal government — and President Donald Trump — claims that Pretti approached ICE agents and threatened him with a gun, which they claim was recovered from the scene of the incident.
Carrying a licensed handgun with a permit is legal in Minnesota.
Information about the victim is limited at the moment. What is known is that Pretti lived in south Minneapolis, and 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.
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.”
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.
