type: timeline_event
Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse and U.S. citizen working for the VA, at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge. Pretti was the second legal observer killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in three weeks, following Renee Good's death on January 7. The killing occurred the day after Minnesota's historic general strike.
Multiple bystander videos verified by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal contradicted the federal government's account. Videos showed Pretti holding only a phone before officers tackled him. Approximately six agents pinned him face-down and shot him approximately ten times in the back. One video appears to show an agent removing Pretti's gun and moving away less than a second before another agent fired. Witnesses stated Pretti "wasn't trying to resist, just trying to help [a] woman up" and "was not even facing agents when they grabbed him."
DHS and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed Pretti was a "domestic terrorist" who approached officers with a 9mm handgun intending to "massacre" them. Immigration official Gregory Bovino initially claimed Pretti "violently resisted" disarming attempts but later walked back definitive claims, stating "I've not concluded anything." Trump officials called Pretti a "domestic terrorist" despite no verified evidence he brandished his handgun during the encounter.
Governor Tim Walz called the federal claims "nonsense" and "lies," stating the federal government cannot be trusted with the investigation and pledging "there will be justice to Minnesotans." Minnesota created evidence logs for potential future prosecution of immigration agents. Mayor Jacob Frey called the federal presence "an invasion" and urged residents to "stand up for America," stating "your children will ask you what side you were on." Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported federal agents failed to properly preserve the shooting scene, calling their actions "astonishing." A federal judge ordered evidence preservation.
Pretti was a member of AFGE Local 3669, representing VA employees. AFGE President Everett Kelley stated: "Our union is heartbroken. An AFGE member is dead. And a family's life has been forever changed." CWA Local 7250 President Kieran Knutson, who had led the Minnesota General Strike the day before, posted "Never Forget, Never Forgive" from the scene after Pretti's death.
The killing intensified calls for a national general strike, with solidarity demonstrations spreading to cities including San Diego where 500 people gathered. Minneapolis officials noted this was "the third shooting now in less than three weeks" by federal agents, and that two of the city's three homicides in 2026 were carried out by federal immigration enforcement agents. Labor leaders discussed expanding the general strike nationwide in response to Pretti's murder.