MN - Alex Pretti dead after Minneapolis shooting involving immigration agents, US media report, January 24, 2026

[branmuffin]

We weren't there and what matters is the perception of the Federal agent(s) at the time.

Perception and reality are two different things. Even after seeing numerous videos of the exchange that started with the ICE agent spraying two women and AP numerous times with pepper spray. After seeing numerous videos of the ICE agents dragging a women and AP back onto the road and after seeing numerous videos of several ICE agents piling on AP, beating him with a gas canister, pushing him down to the ground on his face before they shot him 10 times, those ICE agents in their formal transcript as to what transpired on January 24 2026, STILL reported the interaction as Alex approaching them with a hand gun. That's not perception, that's out and out LIES. 'At the time' has nothing to do with reality. It appears that ICE agents do not have 20/20 vision in retrospect. It appears that ICE agents frame their statement from a CYA perspective.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

It's almost impossible to get fired from the VA, just saying.

True story.

 

[Ruminations]

My opinion, had the agents ignored Alex and walked away after losing their target, instead of approaching bystanders and pushing them to the ground, he would still be alive today.

And maybe they would have arrested the person they allegedly wanted to arrest,

MOO

 

[LAborn]

Homan began to argue that separating children from their caregivers would be an effective way to discourage illegal border crossings. The journalist Caitlin Dickerson has called him the "intellectual father" of the policy, which he outlined years before the Trump administration adopted it. "Most parents don't want to be separated", Homan told Dickerson. He argued that this makes separation an effective tool for immigration enforcement: "I'd be lying to you if I didn't think that would have an effect."

What a guy.

<a href="Tom Homan - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>9<span>]</span></a>

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

His parents were worried about him. They told him not to engage or do anything stupid. I wonder if this conversation came after the first encounter. imo

The parents were aware that Pretti planned to protest and had discussed it with him in a previous conversation.

“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 told the AP.

MSN

And he listened. He didn't do anything stupid.

If only the parents of the ICE agents expressed the same concern about their sons.

MOO.

 

[LAborn]

It's almost impossible to get fired from the VA, just saying.

And? What?

 

[SouthAussie]

CNN has a good analysis video here.
They trace the overall movements of the person in a green jacket who first drew his gun on Alex.
And they also trace the movements of the person in the tan beanie who shoved the woman to the ground and then holds onto Alex while pepper spraying all around Alex's head.

Prior to the killing of Alex, the CBP were physically pushing the two ladies across the street. Alex yelled at them ... "Do not push them into the traffic".

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/29/us/immigration-agents-shooting-alex-pretti-invs

 

[keek]

There are differences of opinion on anything depending on the person's own values and moral compass. Those opinions do define a person in such a case as what this admin. and ICE are doing. Not an opinion on a tie or dress or movie. In America we are free to be but not any more if opposing nazi tactics, hence, they ARE nazi tactics. IMO

 

[zleuther]

I would like to know what transpired to cause an ICE agent to push her, why or how it came to be she was in that situation to begin with, and most importantly, if at that moment the agent was perceiving a threat.

I agree that without an explanation from him (and I think he's one of the two shooters btw) we'll never know how his mind "translated" what he (and we all) saw and heard.

Why he assaulted the woman.

On the one hand, it's a simple story. On the other, he and DHS and DOJ are hiding it. Still.

 

[branmuffin]

<Snipped for focus>

Do you have a link for that? I haven't seen either of those two statements reported in the MSM media.

As far as we know, the agents were conducting an active operation even if we don't know who and where their targets for that day were. And I haven't seen it reported anywhere that they were waiting for a warrant. But even if they were, that's evidence that they were still conducting their operation.

After the donut shop owner refused to let them in they were still milling around the area. The donut shop owner told them to come back with a warrant. They didn't attempt to get a warrant and people were watching and filming the interaction. They didn't decide to be strategic; posting agents front and back of the shop, while others got a warrant. They got filmed being owned by a lowly donut shop who seems to be more aware of the process than those agents.

So instead of walking away empty handed, being filmed and mocked in the process, they became aggressive towards the people taping them. Why? Because they are poorly trained. After DHS thought it was a good idea to reduce the normal training period of 6 months down to 47 days to honour the 47th president, they know SFA about processes like de-escalation, remaining calm and in control, ignoring provocation, they let their frustration get the better of them. It's pretty simple really, the United States of America currently has more than 22000 ICE agents, up from 10K before the Trump regime. That's more than 12000 poorly trained personnel being let loose on the US populace. The optics are terrifying. Don't you think?

 

[Inthedetails]

“Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and repulse it.”
~ Thomas Paine, 1776

 

[sunspun]

Very true. I still would not want any of my loved ones going deliberate ala Pretti at a protest. Such deliberate actions might place them at risk.

I have taken part in a yearly protest- well, unarmed and not kicking out tail lights of police vehicles. Looking for trouble is usually not productive in the long run. jmo

But to me, it looks like AP learned his lesson, you could say, after acting that way at the previous protest.

Because you can see in all the videos, that he did absolutely nothing like that behavior in the recent protest where he was shot.

Imo, he learned that acting like that will only get him a broken rib. So he restrained himself the next time. The worst he did was shout, as far as I saw.

But it didn't help keep him safe.

 

[deadlyaloeplant]

People have the right to peacefully protest in support of their First Amendment rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution on the streets of their own city.

I'm pretty sure the Constitution outlines what the GOVERNMENT can do whilst the Bill of Rights outlined more specifically some rights that may be misinterpreted by a tyrannical government. Our rights are literally everything besides murder, theft, etc.

 

[Strangeworld]

We weren't there and what matters is the perception of the Federal agent(s) at the time.

And I think you've nailed it in this comment - their perception at the time. I'll take it one step further and say their decision-making based on their perception at the time.

So based on this, and watching the videos, it is clear that when required to make quick, appropriate and conflict-prevention decisions followed by actions that aim to contain a situation BUT also aim to minimise harm, they fell short significantly.

I don't know if this is a reflection only on training given or not, it could also be a cognitive weakness of the ICE agents involved, or an emotional response/self regulation to a level that would be filtered out in alot of cases through psychological screening.

So....maybe intellectually, cognitively, emotionally, self-regulatory these ICE agents (possibly more) are just not suited to the job?

It really would be interesting to see the screening process they use, because I think it either was ineffective from the get-go, or it wasn't considered important enough, or worst case scenario, it was purposely minimised in the recruitment process.

 

[Cryptic]

I don’t think highly of them at all.

However, the irony: their protest itself was also their right protected by the First Amendment. As long as it did not turn violent. But it did turn seriously violent, and that opened the route to prosecute them. But openly and legally as it was done. IMHO.

It not only turned violent- but the stated goal of a certain number of participants was to subvert a constitutional process.

 

[SilentHill]

If we want to understand events prior to the shooting, the question is whether Pretti was an observer, or whether he had a history of antagonizing or interfering with federal officers. Could he be perceived as a threat?

Two interpretations of the same event: he posed no threat, he kicked out the tail light of a federal officer vehicle that was leaving the scene. What were Pretti and the officers experiencing in that moment?

If you were to report someone this week for criminal damage to your property and next week they were shot dead in the street by officers that deemed him a threat due to your report - would you be comfortable with that as an appropriate response? I know I personally wouldn't be able to sleep at night but that's just me.

 

[Cryptic]

But still - a photo of Mr. Alex Pretti, a civilian kicking a car a week ago has nothing to do with Mr. Pretty being attacked and executed by the unnamed border patrol agents led into Minneapolis by Greg Bovino, whose “commander at large of the Border Patrol” rank had no official statutory basis with DHS.

There is no statutory basis for the vast majority of government ranks.

Rather, with very few exceptions, the executive branch can create rank at will. For example: Covid-19 Response Coordinator (aka Covid Czar) etc.

 

[sds71]

Anderson Cooper speaks with Kayla Schultz who recorded the shooting of Alex Pretti through a car windshield. She’s speaking out for the first time.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/29/us/video/ac360-woman-who-recorded-shooting-of-alex-pretti-through-car-windshield-speaks-out

https://twitter.com/x/status/2017063491459276804

 

[K9Enzo]

If you were to report someone this week for criminal damage to your property and next week they were shot dead in the street by officers that deemed him a threat due to your report - would you be comfortable with that as an appropriate response? I know I personally wouldn't be able to sleep at night but that's just me.

That’s not cause and effect, that’s you creating a villain arc. imo