Roughly 48 hours after the fatal shooting of a Department of Veterans Affairs nurse by U.S. Border Patrol sparked larger protests across Minnesota, lawmakers, pundits and Americans of various political persuasion are commenting on whether current immigration policies are being facilitated as intended or if they have gone overboard.
Details continue to emerge regarding the fatal shooting death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse at the VA in Minnesota, by one or more U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, Minn. The Jan. 24 shooting, which was caught in different fragments by civilian bystanders and posted to social media, marked the third involving federal immigration officials in January in Minneapolis. An estimated 10 shots were fired in less than five seconds, according to a forensic audio analysis of the videos conducted for ABC News.
Pretti was active in local efforts, according to friends and family, and took a wider interest in impacting his community that included attending protests, according to his father, Michael. His death came amid escalating unrest tied to federal immigration operations, following the earlier federal shooting in the region of mother Renee Good that initially intensified public vitriol.
The wider breadth of enforcement across the Minneapolis–St. Paul region has triggered newer questions over local and federal jurisdiction, gun rights, and whether federal immigration policies initially aimed at protecting national borders have escalated beyond the original scope of removing non-citizens from U.S. soil.
Videos Draw Different Conclusions
The reactions to the fatal shooting of Pretti were instantaneous on Saturday and remain ongoing, as videos taken by eyewitnesses of the Minneapolis ICU nurse’s last moments near 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue captured widespread attention and dissenting perspectives of what the footage actually shows.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees federal immigration enforcement, described federal agents’ shooting as self-defense incident and said Pretti was believed to be holding a firearm near law enforcement. Federal officials circulated a photo of a 9mm handgun they said was helmed by Pretti, linked to the incident.
Bystander video and witness accounts, however, implied that Pretti was armed but that his firearm never left its holster. Video also showed him filming his own account of the activity with a smartphone in hand prior to being subdued by multiple agents and shot.
Federal authorities have not yet released body-worn camera footage or clarified whether such cameras were in use.
Alex Pretti’s Death Through the Federal Government’s Eyes
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, also a DHS adviser, previously said on social media following Renee Good’s death that state and local police were ordered to “stand down and surrender” authority to federal immigration agents.
Miller’s new remarks on platforms including X took it a step further, writing the following on Jan. 24 about Pettri:
A would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement and the official Democrat account sides with the terrorists.
The post now includes a “community note” which reads: “Videos of the encounter shows that the gun was never drawn. The weapon remains in the victim's holster until one agent removes it. After the victim is disarmed, a second agent shoots him repeatedly.”
Vice President JD Vance reposted one of Miller’s statements claiming Pettri was there to “murder federal agents.”
DHS, notably Secretary Kristi Noem, painted Pettri in a similar light on Saturday. She referred to Pettri as a “suspect” with a semi-automatic handgun who “violently resisted” law enforcement.
Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. This violence is directly fueled by hateful rhetoric from Minnesota's sanctuary politicians. It must end now. - Kristi Noem
In other remarks the same day, Noem accused Pettri of “showing up to impede a law enforcement operation, and assaulted our officers.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota officials on the same day as Pettri’s death, seemingly offering a deal in which ICE would leave Minnesota if the state turned over its voter files to the Trump administration.
Possessing a Gun During a Protest
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said Pretti was a Minneapolis resident believed to be an American citizen, with a permit to carry the firearm legally.
"We believe he is a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry," O'Hara said.
Gregory Bovino, commander of Border Patrol, told CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday’s episode of State of the Union that federal law enforcement agents were the real “victims” on Saturday—adding that Pettri “was intending to massacre law enforcement.”
“You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple. You don’t have that right to break the law and incite violence," Bovino told Bash, echoing similar statements made by FBI Director Kash Patel.
Bash pushed back, mentioning Pettri’s 2nd Amendment rights as a gun owner. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, during an appearance Sunday on ABC’s This Week, also said on air that an individual cannot bring a gun to a protest.
Even the NRA rejected such arguments, writing in an X post on Saturday that such logic “is dangerous and wrong.”
“Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens,” the NRA wrote.
That message was echoed by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, which called for a full and transparent investigation by state and federal authorities: "Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms—including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights," the group said.
"We’re now finding out which Republicans were simply cosplaying as Second Amendment defenders," Justin Amash, a former Republican congressman-turned-Libertarian, wrote on X.
Lawmakers Want Long-Term Answers
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, rejected federal framing of accounts after reviewing video footage and called the federal narrative "nonsense" and "lies."
Walz, like others including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, also a Democrat, have been pushing for more statewide oversight over federal intervention in the recent violent outcomes.
Minnesota officials have moved to preserve evidence related to the shooting and have sought additional disclosures from federal agencies. The state has also pursued legal action challenging the scope and execution of federal immigration operations, arguing they undermine public safety and community trust.
“There must be a thorough and impartial investigation into yesterday’s Minneapolis shooting, which is the basic standard that law enforcement and the American people expect following any officer-involved shooting,” U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) wrote Sunday on X. “For this specific incident, that requires cooperation and transparency between federal, state, and local law enforcement.
“Any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President [Donald] Trump’s legacy.”
Oklahoma Gov, Kevin Stitt, a Republican, also told CNN’s Bash that "Americans don't like what they're seeing right now” and that Trump is “getting bad advice.”
“What is the solution? How do we bring this to conclusion?” Stitt added. “And I think only the president can answer that question, because it's complicated. We have to enforce federal laws, but we need to know, what is the endgame? And I don't think it's to deport every single non-U.S. citizen."
The broader strategy at play is more than just enforcing immigration laws, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.
“If you can keep the American electorate deeply divided, you can continue to loot the economy, enrich yourself, you can continue to pass corrupt laws,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “It’s no mistake here, no coincidence here, that this explosion in ICE funding is also a complete giveaway to the surveillance tech companies like Palantir and many others that seek to create billion-dollar contracts and enrich themselves off of a surveillance state that attacks the American people more broadly.”
Everett Kelly, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, called the death of Pretti—an AFGE Local 3669 member—a "tragedy [that] did not happen in a vacuum."
"It is the direct result of an administration that has chosen reckless policy, inflammatory rhetoric, and manufactured crisis over responsible leadership and de-escalation," Everett said in a statement. “For months, this administration has pursued immigration actions designed to provoke confrontation rather than solve problems. Their actions have raised tensions in communities across the country while stoking fear, chaos and division.
"Federal workers have been placed at the center of this political theater, turned into symbols instead of being treated as the public servants they are. That kind of leadership failure has consequences, making everything more dangerous for the public and law enforcement alike."
