Minnesota lawmakers and friends identified Alex Pretti as the man shot and killed by a federal immigration agent Saturday morning in Minneapolis.
The Minnesota Senate’s Minneapolis Delegation issued a statement Saturday afternoon naming Pretti, but did not include further details about him.
A nurse who worked with Pretti in the medical-surgical unit of the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, which serves veterans and their families, described him as a “kind, funny nurse who would do anything for his patients and help his co-workers in any way.”
The colleague asked not to be identified because of her job.
“I know they’re painting him already as a domestic terrorist. He was the complete opposite of that,” the colleague told Sahan Journal. “He was kind and funny, soft spoken and just beloved by all his coworkers.”
Earlier in the day, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that federal immigration agents fatally shot a man on Nicollet Avenue near W. 26th Street, marking the third time an agent shot a civilian in the city this month.
O’Hara, who appeared at a late-morning news conference with Mayor Jacob Frey, said the man was a 37-year-old white Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen whose only known infractions were traffic tickets. O’Hara said police learned of the man’s identity when they were sent to the hospital where he was transported. He did not disclose the man’s name.
In reaction to a media question about the federal government’s assertion that the man had a gun, O’Hara said the man is a lawful gun owner and has a permit to carry firearms. The chief said police have not received information from the federal government about what led up to the shooting, and that Minneapolis police have limited information based on a video of the shooting posted on social media.
The shooting occurred on Nicollet Avenue near W. 26th street. The popular street is affectionately known as “Eat Street,” because it’s home to several ethnic restaurants and other businesses that draw customers throughout the day. The area is also racially diverse.
One video posted on social media appears to show several ICE agents tackling a man to the ground, at least one agent draws his gun, and then the sound of several gunshots is heard.
This is the third time this month a federal immigration agent shot a civilian in Minneapolis following the deployment of thousands of federal agents to Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge, a targeted immigration enforcement campaign.
ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7. An unnamed ICE agent shot and wounded Julio Cesar Sosa Celis in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14 during a struggle as the agent was trying to apprehend Sosa Celis.
Most of Minnesota’s Democratic congressional delegation, including U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and Representatives Betty McCollum and Kelly Morrison, joined Frey and O’Hara for a second news conference in Minneapolis late Saturday afternoon. They said Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts have amounted to a “siege,” and demanded that ICE end its operations in Minnesota.
“With 3,000 agents, which includes Border Patrol, outnumbering … the 10 metropolitan police departments, this is completely out of whack, completely out of balance and now three people have been shot,” Klobuchar said.
Frey said he requested help from the Minnesota National Guard to augment the city’s 600-officer police force, which has prohibited officers from taking any time off for the indefinite future. The mayor said officers are tired, making National Guard support necessary.
“The chaos that we’re seeing is caused directly by ICE, Border Patrol and this federal administration,” Frey said. “Our top priority is keeping our neighbors and businesses safe and the additional support will help us do that.”
Pretti’s co-workers speak out
Another co-worker of Pretti’s at the veterans hospital who requested to remain anonymous for safety and privacy concerns, told Sahan Journal that their paths crossed often because they worked on the same floor in medical surgical roles. Pretti, a registered nurse, worked in the intensive care unit, and the co-worker received patients from that unit.
The co-worker described Pretti as a “positive, light-hearted guy.”
“He was thorough in his nursing practice. He was dedicated, he was intelligent,” the co-worker said. “We enjoyed working with him, because he never had any gripes and he didn’t complain. He just knew that he had to get the job done, and he was attentive to his patients.
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“I know that he enjoyed the work that he did. He was just someone that always had a smile on his face when you would see him in the hallway, or when, when he was discharging a patient from the ICU to go to the floor. He liked being involved.”
Pretti had been at the hospital for at least three years.
“He had such a great attitude,” Dimitri Drekonja, who referred to Pretti as a colleague, posted on BlueSky. “We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now.”
‘Sickening,’ Walz says of federal operation
Walz held a news conference Saturday afternoon calling the federal operation a “campaign of organized brutality against the people of our state.” Walz said he spoke to the White House twice Saturday morning and told officials in President Donald Trump’s administration that the federal government cannot be trusted to lead the investigation into Saturday’s shooting.
“I’ve seen the videos from several angles, and it’s sickening,” Walz said. “I have a strong statement here for our federal government: Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word on this. It must have the last word.”
Walz criticized federal authorities’ conduct after the shooting, saying they created chaos and deployed tear gas against protesters.
Major General Shawn Manke of the Minnesota National Guard said soldiers have been on active duty and staged around the Twin Cities metro for more than a week, though he did not reveal the exact number of troops.
Walz and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jacobson said they recognize community members’ frustration, but asked them to remain peaceful.
“I’ll continue to plead and ask you for peace, and I know that answer has been we ask you for peace and you give it and you get shot in the face on the street coming out of a donut shop, (but) we cannot give them what they want,” Walz said.
At a separate news conference, Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), said his agency was turned away from the scene by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, which is leading the shooting investigation instead of the FBI.
Evans said the BCA then sought a warrant from a judge in order to gain access to the scene, which he said is an unusual step. The BCA investigates officer-involved use of force in Minnesota. Evants said state authorities were turned away again by federal authorities.
“They’re [FBI] excellent partners to us as an organization, but unfortunately in these recent events, others outside of this state are making decisions so that does not occur,” Evans told reporters. “We will continue to investigate this case, and others that we have recently been involved with, but I would be remiss if I didn’t state that it will be difficult to obtain all of the evidence and information without cooperation.”
State authorities later gained access to the scene only after federal authorities had finished processing the scene themselves and left. But, Evans said, the scene was overrun by protesters and BCA investigators had to leave for their safety.
Federal authorities also declined to cooperate with state authorities on the investigation into Good’s killing.
Homeland Security’s account
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a photo of a handgun on its official X account and said that a man holding the gun approached Border Patrol officers as they were trying to arrest an undocumented person for assault. DHS said the federal officers tried to disarm the man, but he resisted.
The ensuing struggle led to one of the agents firing “defensive shots” to protect himself and fellow agents, the agency said. Medics tried to render aid but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to DHS.
The agency said about 200 people arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting, and federal officers deployed “crowd control measures.”
During a Saturday afternoon news conference, U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said the officer who shot the man has been a Border Patrol agent for eight years and has extensive training.
Bovino criticized state and local officials, naming Frey and O’Hara, for not coordinating with federal law enforcement to “get violent criminals off the streets.”
Protesters take to the streets
About a hundred people gathered at the scene around 9:30 a.m., shouting at federal agents, banging drums and chanting. They used nearby dumpsters to block federal agents from leaving the street around 11:30 a.m., and set up medic stations inside local grocery stores.
Federal agents used chemical irritants, pepper spray and flash bangs throughout the morning and early afternoon to push protesters back.
“They shot him on the ground, and they were surprised by their own shooting and they ran away,” protester Josh Kaupa said of viral video of the shooting. “That was disgusting.”
Andrea Ikwestrong arrived shortly after the shooting. She saw medical personnel render aid to the victim, but couldn’t get close because federal officers started to block observers off with tear gas.
“It looked like he was dead,” she told Sahan Journal. “He was gone.”
The long-time Minneapolis resident wants federal agents out of the state immediately.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Ikwestrong said. “We have whistles, we have our voices. Are we really that scary?”
A few hours later, federal officers used chemical irritants to push protesters back about a half block down Nicollet Avenue. A few protesters removed some yellow law enforcement tape to set up a barrier around the area where Pretti was shot to create a symbolic gravesite.
By 3 p.m., hundreds of protesters filled Nicollet Avenue between E. 26th Avenue and E. 27th Avenue to demand that federal agents to leave the state. Mourners gathered outside Nicollet Senior Center Inc. where Pretti was shot, crying and hugging one another.
Protesters set up fire pits and tables with food and water. Some banged on drums and shouted Pretti and Good’s names.
Protester Kevin Miller came down to the corner of E. 28th Street and Nicollet Avenue once he heard news of what had happened. He said he wanted to speak out against the federal operation Minnesota, which he believes has gone too far.
“Anger, a lot of anger,” Miller said of how he’s feeling. “I’m trying to hold back that anger and fuel it into something more productive.”
Miller added that he wants to see accountability for federal agents involved in shootings.
“They’re acting like goons with impunity and just killing people,” he said. “Enough is enough.”
Despite increasing violence from federal agents in Minnesota, Miller said it was important for people to continue protesting peacefully.
“We need to keep the pressure on in a peaceful way to show the character of this city,” he said. “They’re creating an emergency so they can do something here, and they’re pushing us and pushing us so they can respond in a violent way.”
Nate Smrekar was about to pick up some groceries when he got word of the events unfolding on Nicollet Avenue. He said he wanted to monitor what was happening in case his testimony could be important.
From his location on the corner of Nicollet Avenue and E. 27th Street, Smrekar said he saw federal agents detain three people. One individual was detained after kicking back a canister of tear gas that had been thrown at him.
Federal agents fired less-lethal rounds and used several different types of chemical irritants on protesters, he said, adding that he was struck by roughly 10 less-lethal rounds. He also said agents threw a live stun grenade with the pin still inserted.
Smrekar said agents pushed people east down E. 27th street. He said the amount of force used did not correspond to the threat posed by such a small number of people.
“It was really sparse there,” Smrekar said. “The number of rounds that they were firing of every variety for no reason but to punish us. They were walking down the street, taunting people, pushing people, waving at people.”
Minnesota’s elected officials react
Elected officials are calling the shooting an execution.
“This appears to be an execution by immigration enforcement,” Rep. Ilhan Omar said in a written statement. “I am absolutely heartbroken, horrified, and appalled that federal agents murdered another member of our community.”
Omar added that Trump has turned Minnesota into “a war zone.”
Minnesota DFL party chair Richard Carlbom issued a statement calling the shooting an execution and demanding that ICE leave Minnesota.
“The video is horrifyingly clear: federal agents executed a man in broad daylight,” Carlbom said, adding that “untrained federal agents are unleashing militarized chaos on our street, terrorizing our communities of color and repeatedly using violent force.”
Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez, who represents the neighboring Ward 9, called the shooting an execution in a statement on social media. Chavez said the man was an observer who was “out in the community because they care about our immigrant neighbors.”
“ICE is a brutal invading force that acts without accountability or the most basic respect for human dignity or life,” Senate majority leader Erin Murphy said in a written statement. “ICE needs to get the f*** out of our state before they do this again, and these agents of violence need to be brought to justice.”
Minneapolis Council Member Aisha Chughtai, who represents the area, posted on X that she was at the scene Saturday morning. She said more than 100 ICE and Border Patrol agents were present, and that they deployed chemical irritants against people at the scene.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty released a statement saying her office is aware of the shooting and working with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to “coordinate a state response.” The FBI has refused to allow local and state authorities access to their investigations into the Good and Sosa Celis shootings.
“The scene must be secured by local law enforcement for the collection and preservation of evidence,” Moriarty said in the statement. “We expect the federal government to allow the BCA to process the scene.”
Sahan Journal freelancer Nicolas Scibelli contributed to this report.
