The second deadly taking pictures this month of an American citizen in Minneapolis by by the hands of a federal agent has ratcheted up tensions within the metropolis as soon as once more — and led to disputed accounts of what occurred.
Alex Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse at a VA hospital, was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent Saturday morning.
Individuals pay their respects throughout a candlelight vigil for Alex Pretti after he was shot and killed earlier within the day, January 24, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Brandon Bell/Getty Pictures
The Division of Homeland Safety claims Pretti approached officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and when officers tried to disarm him, he “violently resisted.”
“Fearing for his life and the lives and security of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive photographs,” DHS mentioned.
Native officers have disputed this characterization of occasions and criticized federal officers accusing them of dashing to “spin” the story.
The Minneapolis police chief mentioned Pretti was a licensed handgun proprietor. Minnesota’s gun legal guidelines permit open carrying a handgun so long as the gun proprietor has a sound allow.
Movies of the confrontation confirmed the encounter between Pretti and officers. In the course of the encounter, federal brokers are seen spraying Pretti with a substance and pinning him to the bottom earlier than the taking pictures.
Individuals look on close to the positioning the place 37-year-old Alex Pretti was allegedly shot and killed by federal brokers on Jan. 24, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Pictures
A witness in a federal courtroom submitting mentioned Pretti was one in every of three folks pepper-sprayed by brokers and was making an attempt to assist a girl up when he was tackled by the brokers.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander at Giant Greg Bovino have claimed — with out offering additional proof — that Pretti arrived on the scene “to inflict most injury on people.” Noem advised reporters that his actions amounted to “home terrorism.”
“This particular person who got here with weapons and ammunition to cease a regulation enforcement operation of federal regulation enforcement officers dedicated an act of home terrorism, that is the information,” Noem mentioned.
Regardless of being requested by reporters, neither Bovino nor Noem answered when requested if Pretti ever brandished the gun earlier than the encounter.
{A photograph} of 37-year-old Alex Pretti will be seen at a makeshift memorial within the space the place he was shot lifeless by federal immigration brokers earlier within the day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 24, 2026.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP through Getty Pictures
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized federal officers saying, earlier than any investigation has been accomplished, “probably the most highly effective folks within the federal authorities are spinning tales.”
State and native officers say they may conduct their very own investigation into the taking pictures and repeated their requires federal immigration brokers to go away the town.
