Federal officials say a Minneapolis protester was armed with a pistol and “violently resisted” when a Border Patrol agent shot him. His family, his union and public officials say the video of the encounter does not match that account.
A Deadly Encounter In A Federal Operation
The person killed was 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse and member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). According to reporting from Fox News, citing federal officials, Pretti approached Border Patrol agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis that was targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma, a noncitizen who officials say was in the country unlawfully and had prior convictions, including domestic assault and disorderly conduct.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that Pretti was armed with a 9 mm handgun and that he “violently resisted” when agents tried to disarm him. Medics on scene provided emergency care, but he was pronounced dead at the location.
State officials have said Pretti held a lawful permit to carry a firearm. Court records reviewed by reporters show no criminal record beyond minor traffic violations and a divorce finalized in 2023.
The Department of Homeland Security is leading the shooting investigation with assistance from the FBI, according to Fox News and Associated Press reporting. As of the latest public accounts, officials have not released the name of the Border Patrol agent who fired.
Two Stories About The Moments Before The Shooting
There is agreement on some basic facts. Federal agents were in Minneapolis as part of a broader immigration enforcement push tied to the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge. Protesters had been regularly mobilizing against that presence. Pretti was among them.
What happened in the minutes and seconds before Border Patrol gunfire is where the accounts diverge.
According to DHS, quoted in the Fox News report, Pretti walked toward agents while armed. Officials say he refused commands and resisted when they tried to take his weapon, which they present as the justification for lethal force.
Video of the encounter began circulating on social media shortly after the shooting. The full provenance and completeness of that footage remain unclear, and federal investigators have not publicly released their own recordings. But the clip has become central to how the incident is being understood and contested.
Global News in Brief — Sunday, January 25, 2026
🌍 Minneapolis shooting sparks scrutiny
Federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti during an arrest in Minneapolis. Video appears to show him being disarmed before shots were fired, though the Department of Homeland… pic.twitter.com/x2UBcWs1HI— Mansa Tesla (@MansaTesla) January 25, 2026
In a written statement obtained by the Associated Press, Pretti’s family directly rejected the federal narrative. “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” they wrote. They insisted that, in the video, “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.”
AFGE, which represents federal workers including Pretti, also urged caution about the official description. In a statement quoted by both Fox News and AP, the union said that “many of the details remain unclear.” Referring to the same social media video, AFGE wrote, “Video of the incident is circulating on social media, and the Department of Homeland Security has publicly stated that the victim was brandishing a weapon at officers. However, based on the video currently available, that claim is not clearly established.”
The union emphasized the need to wait for verified findings, stating, “This is an unfolding and extremely serious matter. Until we have verified facts, it is important that we refrain from speculation or drawing conclusions.”
So far, DHS has not publicly addressed the specific discrepancies raised by the family or the union about what the video shows, at least in the reporting currently available. No independent body has yet released an official reconstruction of the shooting based on all available footage and witness interviews.
A Nurse, A Protester, A Son
Beyond his role in the chaotic scene that morning, public records and family testimony describe Pretti as a longtime Minneapolis resident and a health care worker embedded in federal service.
According to AP, his father, Michael Pretti, said his son was a University of Minnesota graduate who worked as an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital. He had become increasingly engaged in protest activity after the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis, another incident that prompted scrutiny of federal enforcement tactics.
Michael told AP that his son was “very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE.” He recalled Alex’s reaction to immigration raids and detentions, saying, “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street.” According to Michael, that is what led his son to join protests.
His parents also described trying to set limits. They told AP they had urged him not to “engage” and not to “do anything stupid” while demonstrating. “He said he knows that. He knew that,” Michael said.
The family told reporters they did not learn that Alex had been killed until a journalist contacted them. They said efforts to get information from Border Patrol and local hospitals initially went nowhere. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner later confirmed it had received his body, but the parents said that as of that evening they had still not heard from any federal law enforcement agency.
Operation Metro Surge And Growing Political Fallout
The shooting did not happen in isolation. It took place against the backdrop of a large federal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and other cities that had already drawn intense pushback from local officials and activists.
According to the Associated Press, the operation in which Border Patrol was assisting was part of Operation Metro Surge, a Trump administration initiative that has brought additional federal immigration agents into urban areas. Critics, including Minneapolis city leaders and immigrant advocates, have described it as an occupation of local communities.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris responded on X after video of Pretti’s death spread online. She wrote that she was “enraged and heartbroken” and highlighted his work as a VA nurse. “Alex Jeffrey Pretti was an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. His life, through his profession, was dedicated to serving his community and our country,” she said, adding that “his final act before he was killed by federal agents was doing everything in his power to protect his community.”
Common Defense Civic Engagement, which describes itself as a large grassroots organization of veterans and military families, released a statement saying Pretti “should still be alive.” Communications director Jacob Thomas, an Air Force veteran and Minneapolis resident, argued that the shooting showed federal enforcement “out of control” and called for “an immediate suspension of all ICE operations in Minnesota and throughout the country.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, referencing Operation Metro Surge, said in a public statement reported by Fox News and AP that he shared the “intense grief and anger” over another Minnesotan killed in the course of that initiative. Ellison said his office would go to court to try to halt what he described as “this illegal and unconstitutional occupation of our cities and the terror and violence it’s inflicting.”
Federal authorities have defended the broader crackdown as a lawful effort to arrest individuals with criminal records who are in the country without authorization. In the case of Huerta-Chuma, the target of the operation where Pretti was killed, officials have pointed to past convictions including domestic assault and disorderly conduct. Huerta-Chuma’s legal team has not been quoted in the available reporting, and it is not yet clear how his underlying immigration case may be affected by the shooting investigation.
What The Investigation Still Has To Answer
Several concrete steps in the investigative process are known. DHS has acknowledged that it is leading the internal investigation into the Border Patrol shooting, with the FBI assisting. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has custody of Pretti’s body and will determine his official cause and manner of death.
Yet many of the most consequential details remain unresolved in public view. Investigators have not released a full accounting of:
Item 1: Whether Pretti’s firearm, which state officials say he was legally permitted to carry, was in his hand, holstered, or elsewhere when agents opened fire.
Item 2: The sequence of less-lethal force used before the shooting, including any pepper spray or physical force referenced by the family.
Item 3: The number of shots fired, by whom, and at what distance.
Item 4: Any additional body camera, surveillance, or bystander footage beyond the social media video now circulating.
AFGE has signaled it expects a thorough review and has framed Pretti’s death as a matter of workplace safety for federal workers as well as community safety. “What we do know is this: a member of our union lost their life today, and that alone is devastating,” the union wrote, urging “peace and restraint in all communications and actions” while facts are gathered.
Pretti’s parents have asked for transparency and accountability, telling AP they want the public to “get the truth out” about their son. DHS, Border Patrol and other involved agencies have not yet publicly reconciled their description of an armed, resisting suspect with the competing claims about what the widely viewed video shows.
Until investigators release a detailed reconstruction, the central question will remain unsettled in the public record: in those final moments on a Minneapolis street, was a federal agent responding to an imminent armed threat, or did a legally armed protester with his hands visible become the latest casualty of an aggressive immigration crackdown?
