Posted on 01/24/2026 7:22:34 PM PST by Morgana
The parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the 37-year-old shot by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, had urged him to “not do anything stupid” while protesting.
Pretti, an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, had no prior criminal record before he decided to confront the Border Patrol agents.
The incident occurred one day after a massive protest where tens of thousands marched through downtown Minneapolis to oppose ICE’s operations in the city.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Pretti approached Border Patrol officers while carrying a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and began forcefully resisting orders.
“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.”
Pretti was a United States citizen and was born in Illinois.
His parents, who live in Wisconsin, had spoken to him two weeks ago about not engaging officers during the unrest.
“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
Relatives told CBS News that “Pretti owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota. They said they had never known him to carry it.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that he had a permit to carry.
Pretti’s family learned about his death after seeing the video and thinking that it looked like him.
“I can’t get any information from anybody,” Michael Pretti told CBS. “The police, they said call Border Patrol, Border Patrol’s closed, the hospitals won’t answer any questions?”
Eventually, they confirmed it was him by calling the medical examiner.
The Department of Homeland Security’s statement about the shooting read in full:
“At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, seen here.
The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. More details on the armed struggle are forthcoming.
Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.
The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID—this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.
About 200 rioters arrived at the scene and began to obstruct and assault law enforcement on the scene, crowd control measures were deployed for the safety of the public and law enforcement.
This situation is evolving, and more information is forthcoming.”
The mayhem is still unfolding in Minneapolis, as hundreds of protesters descended on the area of the shooting and continuously ignored dispersal orders.
That, and the Brooklyn hospital that refused ED service and verbally insulted several police officers injured trying to arrest someone because they believed those police officers were ICE agents.
That one just burned me. I worked nearly 40 years in healthcare, and if I had ever treated a patient like that, I would have been fired immediately.
And rightly so.
Patients aren’t Leftists, Conservatives, Police, Firefighters, Politicians, Criminals or even Illegals.
Healthcare is bound to treat them as PATIENTS. We have to put an end to this kind of crap. Immediately. It is the LEFT driving this aberrant behavior.
You never go full retard.
Reinforcing the old saying….”Moms does knows best.”
Parents live in Wisconsin
“What was he bringing the loaded gun to the protest for if not planning on using it against ICE”
He certainly wasn’t going to use it on his fellow Rioters.
That only leaves ICS Agents.
Yeah.
It looks like Pretti boy didn’t get the memo.
Listen to your old man, kid. He knows a thing or two.
“Worked in an ICU and brought a gun to a mostly-peaceful protest.
They left that part out.”
Not to mention it was reported he didn’t have any ID on him. Not positive about Minnesota, but most states require having your concealed carry license/permit on your person while carrying concealed . . .
According to google AI:
Interests and Politics: He was an avid outdoorsman, a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, and a Democratic voter who had previously participated in protests, including those following the killing of George Floyd.
Someone needs to do a deep dive into his background. This doesn’t seem to be his first time out agitating….
I saw elsewhere that he was a serial agitator and ICE had repeatedly warned him to stay away. I dont believe he was innocent for a second. You dont go to a peaceful protest with a spare magazine.
Green Bay. Preble High.
The kind of kids well off enough to have the liberty to believe stupid things.
AWSL. Affluent white soy liberal.
Before I put my readers on I thought it said Alligator.
Anyone notice that over the past week or so, the these finder-outers who were f-arounders are being identified as “US Citizens”, like that makes ICE’s suppression of their unlawful conduct somehow oppressive? The propaganda-ists are always inventing impertinent sympathy-pitch descriptions which are intended to give miscreants a cheap aura of righteousness. Oh, he was a father . . . Oh, she had children . . . Oh, he had a mother . . .
He fought the law and the law won.
RE:....not to do anything stupid....
Carrying a loaded weapon and magazines to confront federal ICE agents during a riot qualifies as stupid to me.
Poster for the movie Dumb and Dumber:
For Harry and Lloyd every day is a no brainer.
Someone said a concealed carry or even regular license is not valid if the person does not carry proper ID. They said they had to search to find his identity because he had no ID. Is that true?
If your parents have to remind you of anything when you’re 37, there’s a problem.
I just read through Proverbs 10.
Most verses say the same thing.
Mama don’t let your kids grow up to be revolutionaries.
👍👍
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