MINNEAPOLIS: The U.S. citizen shot and killed Saturday by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis was an intensive care nurse at a local veterans hospital who “wanted to make a difference in this world,” family members said.
Alex Pretti, 37, was shot and killed while scrambling with immigration agents on an icy road in the Midwest city, less than three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Good, also 37, in her car.
The latest killing sparked fresh protests and rebukes from local officials, who disputed the Trump administration’s quick assertions that Pretti intended to harm federal agents as he participated in demonstrations against a sweeping immigration crackdown.
Pretti was “a kind soul who cared deeply for his family and friends” and those he cared for at a Minneapolis (VA) Veterans Affairs hospital, his parents said in a statement Saturday.
“Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact,” his parents said.
Dimitri Drekonja, chief of the infectious diseases section at the Minneapolis VA hospital and Pretti’s colleague, called him “a good, kind person who lived to help.”
“He had a very good attitude. We were discussing among patients the possibility of going on a mountain bike ride together. That won’t happen now,” Drekonja wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.
He said Pretti was a nurse who worked “to support seriously ill veterans.”
Pretti graduated from high school in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 2006, according to local media. He studied nursing before joining the VA.
Trump administration officials have sought to characterize Pretti as a violent attacker, but their accounts are contradicted by a video that AFP has not been verified, widely reported by the American media.
Pretti’s parents said their son got in front of a federal agent who shoved a female protester shortly before she was killed.
They denounced what they called “sickening lies” from the Trump administration and said the gun found on Pretti, which local authorities said he was licensed to carry, was not in his hand when he was shot.
“Alex is clearly not holding a gun when he is attacked by Trump’s murderers and cowardly ICE thugs,” his parents said in the statement.
“He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman who ICE just pushed down while being pepper sprayed.”
The family asked the public to “spread the truth about our son.” He was a good man.”
“We are heartbroken but also very angry,” they said.
