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

[LAborn]

Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimony

Pair testify that Pretti did not hold weapon and was trying to help woman federal agents had shoved to the ground

www.theguardian.com

 

[Summerliz03]

The conceal carry angle is the dumbest part of the debate . A permit does not give you authority. I am very much pro 2A. It doesn’t give you a hall pass to “help” by inserting yourself into a legal federal chaotic enforcement operation

This is actually where I agree with you. I don’t think his right to carry or him having a gun on him has ANYTHING to do with what happened to him. Because no one (including the 6-8 ICE officers who tackled him to the ground) had any idea he had a gun on him until he was on the ground. He never touched his gun, not one single time. So it literally has nothing to do with why he was shot. The Trump administration brings it up as a way to justify what happened to him, when it really does not matter at all. He didn’t wave his gun, he didn’t brandish his gun, he didn’t even reach for his gun. All MOO.

 

[otto]

IMO If you’re in public recording from a safe distance, fine. If you are closing distance, refusing to move back, stepping into agents, blocking , surrounding, etc. you are not observing , you are interfering and you are going to get treated like a threat. The conceal carry angle is the dumbest part of the debate . A permit does not give you authority. I am very much pro 2A. It doesn’t give you a hall pass to “help” by inserting yourself into a legal federal chaotic enforcement operation . Federal agents will not play intent games. They will treat “I’m helping “ as noise if your body is in the wrong place , you are closing distance and your hands are doing the wrong thing.

Mr. Pretti made horribly foolish decisions that day. I would NEVER encourage anyone I love to take part in this nonsense. IMO

That is the question with both recent ICE agent shootings. Keeping an open mind, and giving the benefit of the doubt includes the possibility of misunderstanding on behalf of all parties. Was there a misunderstanding?

If we look at the beginning of the altercation, it started with a woman shoved into the snow. She was the pepper-sprayed in the face. That temporarily blinded her. A nurse - whose nature and profession it is to assist people in distress - reacted by trying to help her stand up. So far, nothing has gone wrong beyond ICE agents shoving a woman onto the ground.

A woman is distressed, a nurse is helping her. ICE agents are not there to shove and cause distress, they are allegedly there to detain people with violent criminal histories who are not legally in the country.

The ICE agents then attack the nurse who is helping the distressed woman. They tackle him, throw him to the ground, beat him, then shoot him 10 or 11 times.

Was he foolish for believing that ICE agents would not kill a nurse who was helping a distressed woman? Should he have known that ICE agents would shoot him many times, then rifle his body, for helping a woman out of the snow?

 

[Moonstrawbs]

IMO If you’re in public recording from a safe distance, fine. If you are closing distance, refusing to move back, stepping into agents, blocking , surrounding, etc. you are not observing , you are interfering and you are going to get treated like a threat. The conceal carry angle is the dumbest part of the debate . A permit does not give you authority. I am very much pro 2A. It doesn’t give you a hall pass to “help” by inserting yourself into a legal federal chaotic enforcement operation . Federal agents will not play intent games. They will treat “I’m helping “ as noise if your body is in the wrong place , you are closing distance and your hands are doing the wrong thing.

Mr. Pretti made horribly foolish decisions that day. I would NEVER encourage anyone I love to take part in this nonsense. IMO

Yeah this makes so much sense as to why he was shot 10 times mostly in the back and lets not forget he was absolutely out numbered. This feels like an apt time to say "If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” It is absolutely grotesque seeing some people jumping through hoops with their comments, grasping at tiny tiny things to try to justify what occured, no thanks. Jmo

 

[rogue ant]

According to CNN, Border Patrol & ICE will be holding a presser any moment (it's 2:30 Eastern now).

Please let a reporter ask about the letter Bondi sent to Minnesota officials offering to pull ICE from the State if they give voter lists to Trump

Pam Bondi Tells Tim Walz That Handing Over Minnesota's Voter Rolls Can Help Prevent Another 'National Tragedy': Read Her Full Letter

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote a three-point letter of demands to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after American ICU nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Border Patrol on Jan. 25

people.com

 

[tricia]

Please remember we must allow both sides to discuss their views. Was the shooting justified or not? If someone posts their opinion and you don't agree with it post back using facts. Show why they are mistaken. That is the point of Websleuths.
Also, any post that is off topic will be removed. The topic is the shooting.
Thank you,
Tricia

 

[tricia]

According to CNN, Border Patrol & ICE will be holding a presser any moment (it's 2:30 Eastern now).

Please let a reporter ask about the letter Bondi sent to Minnesota officials offering to pull ICE from the State if they give voter lists to Trump

Pam Bondi Tells Tim Walz That Handing Over Minnesota's Voter Rolls Can Help Prevent Another 'National Tragedy': Read Her Full Letter

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote a three-point letter of demands to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after American ICU nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Border Patrol on Jan. 25

people.com

If you can post the link to the press conference I would appreciate it.
Thank you.

 

[rogue ant]

You are seriously blaming Pretti? He was filming from a safe distance. The agents approached Pretti. He tried to keep his distance, he tried to help a woman who was shoved and pepper sprayed, he was pepper sprayed and incapacitated, he was tackled, he was disarmed, then he was shot.

Never while he was being accosted by the agents did he "brandish" a weapon.

It helps to look at it like a giant Jenga game: if one tiny piece falls off, the whole thing collapses. They cannot and will not allow that.

 

[Stunned]

Killing two innocent US citizens could never be declared a "victory", unless by a demented madman/madwoman. jmo

That about sums it up right now. IMO

 

[rogue ant]

If you can post the link to the press conference I would appreciate it.
Thank you.

 

[PawneeDew]

I'm sorry, but I think they were trying to find his identification. Since they needed to know who they had just killed, and they could see he wasn't going to be able to tell them himself.

Looking for ID seems the obvious reason to me.

But I'm sure they would've been thrilled to find drugs on him or anything else they could use to disparage their victim.

Moo I think they were probably taking his phone/camera....

 

[K9Enzo]

That is the question with both recent ICE agent shootings. Keeping an open mind, and giving the benefit of the doubt includes the possibility of misunderstanding on behalf of all parties. Was there a misunderstanding?

If we look at the beginning of the altercation, it started with a woman shoved into the snow. She was the pepper-sprayed in the face. That temporarily blinded her. A nurse - whose nature and profession it is to assist people in distress - reacted by trying to help her stand up. So far, nothing has gone wrong beyond ICE agents shoving a woman onto the ground.

A woman is distressed, a nurse is helping her. ICE agents are not there to shove and cause distress, they are allegedly there to detain people with violent criminal histories who are not legally in the country.

The ICE agents then attack the nurse who is helping the distressed woman. They tackle him, throw him to the ground, beat him, then shoot him 10 or 11 times.

Was he foolish for believing that ICE agents would not kill a nurse who was helping a distressed woman? Should he have known that ICE agents would shoot him many times, then rifle his body, for helping a woman out of the snow?

Hi Otto, we have agreed and respectfully disagreed over the years on several cases. I respect your opinion and will spend time reading it as I know you put thought into it. Thank you. I never have to be right on Webslueths and appreciate open conversation. imo

 

[georgiajean]

I think it is important that Alex Pretti was under the effects of tear gas or pepper spray at the time the agents jumped on him. I think I would be writhing and screaming doing everything I could to deal with the pain in my eyes, skin, and lungs. And these agents took it as "avoiding" them or evading arrest.

I do NOT think this shooting was justified. I think the agents were jacked up on adrenaline, were frustrated because their target escaped into a business that locked its doors (the donut shop) an took it out on the peaceful protestors. (source CNN

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=872792118690376

)

 

[tlcya]

I'm going to try this again because I am genuinely not sure what was so objectionable in my last post.

In the Dana Bash of CNN interview with Greg Bovino at the -6:00 mark he states "I don't think that you would want citizens to be in the middle of a crime scene injecting themselves into something that is none of their business."

Pretti was filming in a public place what ICE agents are doing in MN. IMO THAT was the assault he was perpetrating against the federal agents who have surged into his city. Pretti did not believe there was 'nothing to see here' IMO and so was documenting and gathering evidence of what was occurring that day in his city of residence.

And MOO THAT is the only reason he is dead today.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/politics/video/bovino-dana-bash-full-interview-digvid

 

[303gmf]

Thank you for posting. Very informative. Gives a bit of hope, and describes actions Americans can take now w/o resorting to violence.

A big fan since 2019 when she began her Letters to Americans
I devour all her words, a brilliant historian and author of 7 books
Her Wikipedia page will inform much better than I can parse out.
Wishing her writing was required reading in all high schools and colleges as well

 

[Charlot123]

I was prepared to see the shooting, and the death, in the video. The ICE agents all stood back a few feet for a moment. Then they all approached the body, got on their hands and knees, and grabbed at him, shoved him, rifled him. It was as though they had no awareness of what they had done, and no respect for a deceased man. It looked like they were desperate to grab evidence and alter the scene.

Police officers are trained to preserve the scene and wait for an analysis of the shooting. These shooters did not appear to conduct themselves like police.

For starters, they are not police. As a citizen: there is a lot of communication between us and the police. We call 911 when in need of help, and depending on the situation, the EMT, the fire department or the police come. So there is no gap between us and police. Ice is different; they make us check that we have proof of citizenship everywhere, that’s all. They are of no use to citizens in daily life. So by default, they should stay away from US citizens.

Second, the police is more than identifiable. They have names, badges, uniforms. They switch on cameras during the communication. That gives them self-awareness in what they are doing.

And then, I seldom see swarms of police. Unless there is an accident. Usually there are two, and when they leave their house in the morning, they are not sure how the day will be. They are risking their lives as humans, and they are taught to never take unnecessary risks. They are taught to de-escalate the events.

So to think of who is hired by ICE…most are not kids. And mind you: I know some highly conservative people who support deportations. I can’t judge them because for starters, the beginning of their lives and experience were very different from that of mine. But, they managed, they are smart, they have steady and stable blue-collar jobs. And, they may be pro-ice but they won’t join it.

So to think of the pool who joins ice…you have to be somewhat “not established” in life, right? Then, to make any group work cohesively, you have to train them.

And here is an issue. Any training in the US is very “algorithmic”, there are rules, crew management systems, codes in hospitals and other facilities. To think of, there are lots of steps we are taught to execute in case of an emergency. I fail to see how one can learn them in 47 days, and also, many of our algorithms are the result of past bad experiences.

So to a degree, it is predictable that things are happening with ice. A huge group of people being present in the city where no one views them as “own”, they feel it, are likely, scared and angry, walk in groups, in the cold on Minnesota, whistle blows around…on the human level, tensions are high. Every day these agents are shown that they are not wanted. It is all incredibly “chaotic”, and untrained group’s reaction to chaos culminates in bad decisions. If we think of how it started that day…they hoped for an arrest (and a reward), but the door to the donut shop closed in their face, so they are already enraged, and then, people come, whistles, a group is formed. Someone not smart (and quite possibly, unfit for the job to start with) reacted. And of course, they have no rules or regulations for “the case one of us killed a US citizen”! Can’t be, it is not their job at all!

Now it is the case that shook the country because give or take, six people killed, for nothing, not only a US citizen, but a highly trained VA ICU nurse, whose job is needed. This is the net result that everyone sees.

 

[SouthAussie]

According to CNN, Border Patrol & ICE will be holding a presser any moment (it's 2:30 Eastern now).

Please let a reporter ask about the letter Bondi sent to Minnesota officials offering to pull ICE from the State if they give voter lists to Trump

Pam Bondi Tells Tim Walz That Handing Over Minnesota's Voter Rolls Can Help Prevent Another 'National Tragedy': Read Her Full Letter

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote a three-point letter of demands to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after American ICU nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Border Patrol on Jan. 25

people.com

They seem to be having more pressers than in Renee's case.
Maybe they are getting a lot more push-back for this killing.

imo