A Minneapolis ICU nurse was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents Thursday morning in what witnesses described as an unprovoked attack that has sparked outrage across Minnesota. The incident marks the third shooting involving federal immigration agents in the city this month.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, died after being shot multiple times by Border Patrol agents at the intersection of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue around 9:05 a.m. Thursday, according to multiple sources. Bystander videos showed several agents wrestling Pretti to the ground before firing approximately ten shots in five seconds.
Witnesses say Pretti, a U.S. citizen who worked as an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration, was helping direct traffic near a restaurant when he was confronted by federal agents. One witness told investigators that Pretti was “focused on helping people who were coming into Nicollet Avenue understand that they needed to take it slow” when ICE agents approached and told them to back up before the shooting.
Conflicting Accounts
The Department of Homeland Security claims Pretti approached officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. According to their statement, an agent sprayed mace and attempted to disarm Pretti before firing “defensive shots.” Family members confirmed Pretti owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Minnesota, but said they had never known him to carry it. Video analysis by The New York Times showed Pretti holding what appeared to be a phone, with no visible weapon.
The incident occurred amid ongoing mass protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city. According to people familiar with Pretti, he was an avid outdoorsman who “cared deeply about people and was upset by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown” in Minneapolis.
State vs. Federal Authority
What happened next has escalated into a jurisdictional standoff between state and federal authorities.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension obtained a search warrant to access the shooting scene but was denied entry by federal agents — even with a judge-signed warrant. “The federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation. The state will handle it. Period,” Governor Tim Walz said in a statement, calling the federal operation a “campaign of organized brutality.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey expressed horror after viewing video of the incident. “I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death,” Frey said, demanding that ICE operations in the city end immediately.
This marks the third shooting involving federal agents in Minneapolis within seventeen days, following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE on January 7. The rapid succession of incidents has intensified calls from state officials for federal agents to leave Minnesota.
Political Fallout
Senator Amy Klobuchar called for ICE to withdraw from the state, noting that approximately 3,000 federal agents now outnumber sworn police officers in Minneapolis and St. Paul by 3 to 1. “They are not making us more safe,” Klobuchar said. “As the tragic, tragic killing this morning, as people saw it viscerally on that video, shows us they are making us less safe.”
Representative Ilhan Omar was more direct: “This appears to be an execution by immigration enforcement. I am absolutely heartbroken, horrified, and appalled that federal agents murdered another member of our community.” She accused the Trump administration of trying to “beat Minnesotans into submission.”
Governor Walz has formally called on President Trump to remove the federal agents, stating they were “sowing chaos and violence” and that the federal government must deescalate.
As tensions continue to rise between state and federal authorities, Pretti’s family and the Minneapolis community are left mourning a man described by those who knew him as someone who dedicated his life to caring for others — only to die violently on a city street on an ordinary Thursday morning.
