The parents of Alex Pretti released a statement late Saturday, hours after Border Patrol agents fatally shot the 37-year-old Minneapolis man the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said was armed and looked about to “massacre law enforcement.”
Michael and Susan Pretti said that their deceased adult son was a “good man” and called on the public to “[p]lease get the truth out about” him in their statement first shared with KARE, a Minneapolis-based NBC affiliate. The Prettis also claimed Alex Pretti was “clearly not holding a gun” when he was “attacked” by “[President Donald] Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] thugs,” and blasted the Trump administration for telling “sickening lies” about him.
“We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA [Veterans Affairs] hospital,” the Pretti statement continues. “Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly.”
Alex Pretti’s parents claimed their son’s “last thought and act was to protect a woman,” explaining that at the time he was shot and killed, he had “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.”
Family of Alex Pretti, who was shot dead in Minneapolis today, releases statement:
“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.” pic.twitter.com/PnggMiVUb6
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 25, 2026
Should the actions of Border Patrol in the shooting of Alex Pretti be investigated?
DHS, in a Saturday afternoon post to X, shared a photograph of a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun it claimed the man later identified as Pretti had on him when he approached federal agents that morning. The agency also claimed Pretti had on him “2 magazines and no ID.”
“[T]his looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“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 [Pretti] but was pronounced dead at the scene,” the DHS statement continues.
The left-wing Legal Defense Fund (LDF), similar to Pretti’s parents, claimed in a Saturday press release the man had “tried to assist a woman pushed by DHS agents.”
“DHS officials claimed in a statement that Mr. Pretti had a handgun in his possession, but he had a legal license to carry a gun, and Minnesota is an open and conceal carry state. Available video evidence does not indicate that Mr. Pretti pointed that gun at any of the DHS officers or otherwise threatened them before they killed him,” the LDF’s press release states.
Chaotic protests and riots erupted on the streets of Minneapolis in the hours following the fatal shooting, Jorge Ventura reported on the ground for the DCNF. Pretti’s death came 17 days after an ICE agent shot Renee Good, whom the DHS claimed “weaponized her vehicle” in “an act of domestic terrorism.”
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