pretti

The Trump administration has blamed the death of an American citizen at the hands of immigration agents in Minnesota on the victim within hours of their killing for the second time this month, calling the late Alex Jeffrey Pretti an “assassin” and “domestic terrorist” without opening an independent investigation.

The crisis response from President Trump’s top Homeland Security officials followed a familiar playbook from an administration eager to project grit and resolve, particularly on immigration, in the face of inconvenient facts. Despite their efforts, damage from the incident continued to reverberate Sunday, creating political jeopardy for the president.

Videos that emerged of Pretti’s killing enraged the public. Government lines justifying the use of lethal force prompted blowback among staunch Republican supporters and conservative groups. Negotiations in Congress to thwart another shutdown were upended over Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding. And a Trump-appointed judge blocked the administration from attempting to destroy evidence in the case, lending weight to fears of a cover-up.

It is new terrain for Trump, whose handling of immigration had been a rare bright spot in polling of his job performance throughout his first year back in office. Now, for the first time, surveys show a plurality of Americans disapprove of the administration’s enforcement tactics, with one in three Republicans expressing concern they have grown too harsh.

Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse at a hospital for veterans in Minneapolis, was shot 10 times at close range by two ICE agents. Multiple videos of the incident appear to show Pretti attempting to aid a fellow civilian who had been pushed by an ICE officer, before he himself was wrestled to the ground by agents.

He had been carrying a firearm that Minneapolis police said was lawfully purchased and registered. The videos that circulated on social media do not indicate that he had brandished, or was attempting to reach for, his weapon, despite Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accusing Pretti of attending the protest with the aim of committing violence.

Bill Essayli, the assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, warned that approaching law enforcement while armed created “a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” But the administration’s decision to blame Pretti’s death on his decision to bear arms drew harsh rebuke from 2nd Amendment advocates across the Republican Party.

“Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens,” the National Rifle Assn. said in a statement.

Erick Erickson, a prominent conservative commentator, accused Noem and Greg Bovino, Trump’s head of the U.S. Border Patrol, of making matters “far worse by being unrestrained in how they proceed.”

“The President is a great marketer and PR guy,” Erickson wrote on X. “While those around him may not realize it, I’m pretty sure he understands another dead American with his team rushing to undermine second amendment arguments and define the dead guy with a lot of facts still unknown is a bad look.”

The general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term said he was “enraged and embarrassed” by the agency’s “lawlessness, fascism, and cruelty,” and called for the president’s impeachment and removal.

“People have had enough,” Brian O’Hara, Minneapolis’ police chief, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year, last year, recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds and hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn’t shoot anyone. And now this is the second American citizen that’s been killed, it’s the third shooting within three weeks.”

Earlier this month, Renee Nicole Good, also 37 and a mother of three, was shot to death by an ICE agent while driving her car, shortly after dropping her son off at school. Just as in Pretti’s case, Noem and other senior administration officials justified the incident within hours of her death by impugning the victim’s motives without producing substantive evidence.

The aggressive response comes as the administration has faced accusations of misrepresenting other facts to the public.

After the president confused Greenland with the separate island nation of Iceland four times in a speech last week in Switzerland, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, flatly denied he had made the mix-up.

And on the same trip, Trump dismissed the role of NATO’s allies in the war in Afghanistan, where partner nations lost more than 1,000 soldiers over the course of the war, falsely claiming they “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.” The remark has infuriated some of Washington’s closest allies.

Only when Noem was questioned by a conservative reporter on Fox News about the circumstances of Pretti’s death did she suggest error may have been at fault.

“This happened in seconds,” Noem said, asked whether Pretti had been shot and killed after being disarmed of a weapon he hadn’t brandished in the first place. “They clearly feared for their lives and took action to defend themselves.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Democrats demanded federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis and set off clashes with protesters who poured into the frigid streets in a city already shaken by another shooting death weeks earlier.

The latest shooting also sparked a legal fight over control of the investigation and renewed calls by state and city officials for an end to the immigration surge that has swept across Minneapolis and surrounding cities.

Federal officials say agents fired defensively Saturday morning when Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, stepped into a confrontation between an immigration officer and a woman on the street. Officials say Pretti was armed, but no bystander videos appear to show him holding a weapon; he appears to be holding a phone. The Minneapolis police chief said Pretti had a permit to carry a gun.

Pretti’s family said they were “heartbroken but also very angry” at authorities, saying in a statement that Pretti awas kindhearted soul who wanted to make a difference in the world.

A federal judge has already issued an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to the shooting, after state and county officials sued.

Minnesota Atty. Gen. Keith Ellison said the lawsuit filed Saturday is meant to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A court hearing is scheduled for Monday in federal court in St. Paul.

“A full, impartial, and transparent investigation into his fatal shooting at the hands of DHS agents is nonnegotiable,” Ellison said in a statement.

Spokespersons for the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, which are named in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.

Another federal judge previously ruled that officers participating in the federal immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota cannot detain or tear-gas peaceful protesters who are not obstructing authorities, though an appeals court temporarily suspended that ruling days before Saturday’s shooting.

The Minnesota National Guard was assisting local police at the direction of Gov. Tim Walz, officials said, with troops sent to both the shooting site and a federal building where officers have squared off daily with demonstrators.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference Saturday that Pretti showed up to “impede a law enforcement operation.” She questioned why he was armed but did not offer details about whether Pretti drew the weapon or brandished it at officers.

Gun rights groups have noted it’s legal to carry firearms during protests.

“Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms — including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights,” the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said in a statement. “These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed.”

Trump blames Democrats

The Republican president weighed in on social media Saturday by lashing out at Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

He shared images of the gun that immigration officials said was recovered and said: “What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers?”

Trump said the Democratic governor and mayor “are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was among several Democratic lawmakers demanding that federal immigration authorities leave Minnesota. She also urged Democrats to refuse to vote to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying via social media: “We have a responsibility to protect Americans from tyranny.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York later said that Democrats will not vote for a spending package that includes money for DHS, which oversees ICE. Schumer’s statement increases the possibility that the government could partially shut down Jan. 30 when funding runs out.

Pretti was shot just over a mile from where an ICE officer killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7, sparking widespread protests.

Pretti’s family was furious at federal officials’ description of the shooting.

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed,” the family statement said. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”

Video shows officers, man who was shot

When the Saturday confrontation began, bystander video shows protesters blowing whistles and shouting profanities at federal officers on a commercial street in south Minneapolis.

The videos show Pretti stepping in after an immigration officer shoves a woman. Pretti appears to be holding his phone toward the officer, but there’s no sign he’s holding a weapon.

The officer shoves Pretti in his chest, and pepper-sprays him and the woman.

Soon, at least seven officers are forcing Pretti to the ground. Several officers try to bring the man’s arms behind his back as he struggles against them. An officer holding a tear-gas canister strikes him on or near his head several times.

A shot is heard, but with officers surrounding the man, it’s not clear where it came from. Multiple officers back off. More shots are heard. Officers back away, and the man lies motionless on the street.

Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander leading Trump’s crackdown, was repeatedly pressed on CNN’s Sunday “State of the Union” for evidence that Pretti did anything illegal or assaulted law enforcement, as officials have claimed.

Bovino said it was “very evident” that Pretti was not following the officers’ orders.

“It’s too bad the consequences had to be paid because he injected himself into that crime scene,” he said. “He made the decision.”

Walz said Saturday that he had no confidence in federal officials and that the state would lead the investigation into the shooting.

Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said during a news conference Saturday that federal officers blocked his agency from the scene even after it obtained a signed judicial warrant.

Protests continue

Demonstrations broke out in several cities across the country, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles.

In Minneapolis, protesters converged at the scene of the shooting Saturday despite dangerously cold weather, with temperatures around minus-6 degrees.

An angry crowd gathered after the shooting and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home. Protesters dragged garbage bins from alleyways to block streets, and people chanted “ICE out now” and “Observing ICE is not a crime.”

As darkness fell, hundreds of people mourned quietly by a growing memorial at the site of the shooting. A doughnut shop and a clothing store nearby stayed open, offering protesters a warm place as well as water, coffee and snacks.

Caleb Spike said he came from a nearby suburb to show his support and his frustration. “It feels like every day something crazier happens,” he said. “What’s happening in our community is wrong, it’s sickening, it’s disgusting.”

Raza, Brook and Karnowski write for the Associated Press. AP writers Giovanna Dell’Orto and Tim Sullivan in Minnesota, Rebecca Santanta in Washington and Jim Mustian in New York contributed this report.

Family members have identified Alex Jeffrey Pretti as the person who was shot dead by federal agents in the United States during an immigration raid in Minneapolis, the largest city in the state of Minnesota.

The shooting of Pretti, a 37-year-old US citizen, came as the city continues to mourn the death of another American, Renee Good, who was killed earlier this month when a federal agent fired into her vehicle.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz condemned Pretti’s killing as part of a “campaign of organised brutality”, while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged the Trump administration to end its immigration crackdown there.

The Department of Homeland Security, however, characterised the incident as an attack, saying a Border Patrol agent fired in self-defence after a man approached with a handgun and violently resisted attempts to disarm him.

Witnesses and Pretti’s family reject that claim, while bystander videos from the scene also appear to contradict the account.

Here’s what we know about Pretti and the circumstances of his death.

What happened in Minneapolis?

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Pretti had attacked agents during the shooting, while federal officials posted an image of the gun they say the victim was carrying at the time of the shooting.

“He wasn’t there to ‌peacefully protest. He was there to perpetuate violence,” Noem said at a news conference.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commander, Gregory Bovino, said Pretti wanted to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”, while Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, described the victim as “a would-be assassin”.

But bystander videos verified by the Reuters news agency showed Pretti, holding a mobile phone in his hand, not a gun, as he ⁠tries to help other protesters who have been pushed to the ground by agents.

As the videos begin, Pretti can be seen filming as a federal agent pushes away one woman and shoves another ​to the ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the women, then raises his left arm to shield himself as the agent pepper-sprays him.

Several agents then take ‍hold of Pretti – who struggles with them – and force him onto his hands and knees. As the agents pin down Pretti, someone shouts what sounds like a warning about the presence of a gun. Video footage then appears to show one of the agents removing a gun from Pretti and stepping away from the group with it.

Moments later, an officer points his handgun at Pretti’s back and fires four shots at him in quick succession. Several more shots ‍are then heard as another agent also appears to fire at Pretti.

The agents initially all back away from Pretti’s body on the road. Some agents then seem to offer medical assistance to Pretti as he lies on the ground, as other agents keep bystanders back.

Meanwhile, two witnesses who immediately filed sworn statements before the US District Court of Minnesota said Pretti did not brandish a gun during the incident. According to the court documents, one of the witnesses, a doctor, said Pretti sustained at least three gunshot wounds in his back.

Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara later said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with no criminal record other than traffic violations.

Who was Alex Pretti?

Anguished family members described Pretti as a compassionate and dedicated healthcare worker who had been angered by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Pretti was working as an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis at the time of his death.

“We are heartbroken, but also very angry. Alex was a kind soul who cared deeply for his family and friends, and also the American veterans who he cared for as an ICU nurse,” his parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, said in a statement released to the media.

Michael Pretti told The Associated Press news agency that his son “was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and had taken part in the protests against the immigration raids.

“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,” the elder Pretti said.

The family told the AP that Pretti studied at the University of Minnesota, graduating in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, society and the environment. They said he worked as a research scientist before returning to school to become a registered nurse.

As of Saturday evening, the family said they had still not heard from anyone at a federal law enforcement agency about their son’s death.

In their statement, the family lambasted the Trump administration’s claim that their son had attacked the officers who shot him. “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” they said.

The family added that videos showed Pretti was not holding a gun when federal agents tackled him, but holding his phone with one hand and using the other to shield a woman who was being pepper-sprayed.

“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man,” they said.

Meanwhile, the federal employees’ labour union AFGE said it was “deeply stricken by this tragedy” while its president, Everett Kelley, paid tribute to Pretti, saying he “dedicated his life to serving American veterans”.

“This tragedy did not happen in a vacuum. It is the direct result of an administration that has chosen reckless policy, inflammatory rhetoric, and manufactured crisis over responsible leadership and de-escalation,” Kelley said.

The American Nurses Association also said it was “deeply disturbed and saddened” by the killing, and called for a “full, unencumbered investigation” into the case. Pretti’s colleague, Dr Dmitri Drekonja, told ABC News that it was “galling and enraging” to hear the way federal officials were portraying the victim.

What’s driving the tensions in Minneapolis?

Under Trump, the Republican administration launched immigration crackdowns last year, targeting Democrat-led states and cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, saying the militarised operations were necessary to remove criminals from the US.

The crackdown in Minneapolis is the largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, according to officials, with some 3,000 agents deployed. The operation began in November, with officials tying it in part to allegations of fraud involving residents of Somali origin.

In addition to the deaths of Pretti and Good, the surge has also pitted city and state officials against the federal government and prompted daily clashes between activists and immigration officers. Amid the tensions, children are skipping school or learning remotely, families are avoiding religious services and many businesses, especially in immigrant neighbourhoods, have closed temporarily, according to media reports.

Pretti is at least the sixth person to die during ICE enforcement efforts since last year, the AP reported, and the incident was one of at least five shootings in January involving federal agents conducting anti-immigration operations, according to Reuters.

At least six people have also died in ICE detention centres since the start of 2026, following at least 30 deaths in its custody last year, a two-decade high.

Videos quickly emerged Saturday showing the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester by federal immigration agents, with Democratic leaders in Minnesota saying the footage showed the deadly encounter was the result of untrained federal officers overreacting and the Trump administration saying the man provoked the violence.

It was the second fatal shooting in Minneapolis by federal immigration authorities this month. The killing of Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 also was captured on videos and produced a similar schism among political leaders.

At around 9 a.m. on Saturday, federal agents patrolling Minneapolis killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti after a roughly 30-second scuffle. The Trump administration said shots were fired “defensively” against Pretti, who federal authorities said had a semiautomatic handgun and was “violently” resisting officers.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who said he watched one of several videos, said he saw “more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents, shooting him to death.” Frey has said Minneapolis and St. Paul are being “invaded” by the administration’s largest immigration crackdown, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti attacked officers, and Customs and Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino said Pretti wanted to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” In posts on X, President Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called Pretti “a would-be assassin.”

The shooting Saturday occurred as officers were pursuing a man in the country illegally wanted for domestic assault, Bovino said. Protesters routinely try to disrupt such operations, and they sounded their high-pitched whistles, honked horns and yelled out at the officers.

Among them was Pretti. At one point, in a video obtained by the Associated Press, Pretti is standing in the street and holding up his phone. He is face-to-face with an officer in a tactical vest, who places his hand on Pretti and pushes him toward the sidewalk.

Pretti is talking to the officer, though it is not clear what he is saying.

The video shows protesters wandering in and out of the street as officers persist in trying to talk them back. One protester is put in handcuffs. Some officers are carrying pepper spray canisters.

Pretti is seen again when the video shows an officer wearing tactical gear shoving a protester. The protester, who is wearing a skirt over black tights and holding a water bottle, reaches out for Pretti.

The same officer shoves Pretti in his chest, leading Pretti and the other protester to stumble backward.

A different video then shows Pretti moving toward another protester, who falls over after being shoved by the same officer. Pretti moves between the protester and the officer, reaching his arms out toward the officer. The officer deploys pepper spray, and Pretti raises his hand and turns his face. The officer grabs Pretti’s hand to bring it behind his back, and deploys the pepper spray canister again and then pushes Pretti away.

Seconds later, at least half a dozen federal officers surround Pretti, who is wrestled to the ground and hit several times. Several agents try to bring Pretti’s arms behind his back, and he struggles.

Videos show an officer, who is hovering over the scuffle with his right hand on Pretti’s back, back away from the group with what appears to be a gun in his right hand just before the first shot is heard.

Someone shouts, “Gun, gun.” It is not clear whether that’s a reference to the weapon authorities say Pretti had.

And then the first shot is heard.

Videos do not clearly show who fired the first shot. In one video, seconds before that shot, one officer reaches for his belt and appears to draw his gun. The same officer is seen with a gun to Pretti’s back as three more shots ring out. Pretti slumps to the ground. Videos show the officers backing away, some with guns drawn. More shots are fired.

The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti was shot after he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun. Officials did not say whether Pretti, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, brandished the gun or kept it hidden.

An agency statement said officers fired “defensive shots” after Pretti “violently resisted” officers trying to disarm him.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz expressed dismay at the characterization.

“I’ve seen the videos, from several angles, and it’s sickening,” he said.

Trump weighed in on social media by lashing out at Walz and Frey. He shared images of the gun that immigration officials said was recovered from Pretti and said “What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers?”

Fingerhut writes for the Associated Press.