MINNEAPOLIS: The US citizen who was shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday 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 arguing with immigration officials on an icy road in the Midwestern city, less than three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, in her car.
The latest killing sparked fresh protests and rebukes from local officials, who disputed the Trump administration’s swift assertions that Pretti intended to harm federal agents as he participated in demonstrations against a sweeping immigration crackdown.
Pretti was “a kind-hearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends” and those he cared for at a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs (VA) 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 infectious diseases at the Minneapolis VA hospital and a colleague of Pretti’s, called him “a good, kind person who lived to help.”
“He had such a great attitude. We talked between patients about trying to go on a mountain bike ride together. That will never happen now,” Drekonja wrote on social media platform Bluesky.
He said Pretti was a nurse who works “to support critically ill veterans.”
Pretti graduated from high school in Green Bay, Wis., in 2006, according to local media. He went to nursing school before coming to the VA.
Trump administration officials have tried to label Pretti as a violent aggressor, but their accounts are contradicted by video that AFP has not verified, broadcast widely by US media.
Pretti’s parents said their son had stepped in front of a federal agent who shoved a female protester shortly before his death.
They condemned what they called “sick lies” by the Trump administration, saying the gun found on Pretti, which local officials 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 murderous 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 as he tries to protect the woman that ICE just pushed down while being pepper sprayed.”
The family asked the public to “get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
“We are devastated but also very angry,” they said.
