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The account of the Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, clashed over the weekend as President Donald Trump’s administration accused him of refusing to be arrested, and his family remembered him as a “good-hearted soul.”
Pretti, a Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, is the second anti-ICE protester to be shot and killed in Minneapolis this month. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said the victim, who was armed, “violently resisted” arrest and that the ICE agent fired his weapon “in fear of his life.”
Footage of the incident shows an ICE agent disarming Pretti shortly before he was killed. He got into the first conflict with ICE representatives when he tried to help another protester who was being pushed by law enforcement.
A federal judge immediately barred the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Sunday’s shooting.
ANTI-ICE AGITATOR ALLEGED TO BITE FEDERAL OFFICER’S FINGER DURING MINNEAPOLIS ATTACK
This undated photo provided by Michael Pretti shows Alex J. Pretti, the man who was shot by an officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Michael Pretti via AP)
The decision came after the Hennepin County District Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension filed a lawsuit Saturday to prevent the destruction of evidence in the case.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota, names DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and US Border Control, and US Border Control. Attorney General Pam Bondi, as defendants.
In granting the temporary order, Judge Eric Tostrud wrote that federal officials and those who represent them will not destroy evidence taken from the scene of the shooting in south Minneapolis or now only in their cells, which state authorities say they were previously prohibited from examining.
OVERBOARD DRIVING REPORTED IN MINNEAPOLIS
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks next to a screen showing an image of a handgun during a news conference in Washington, DC, on Jan. 24, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)
A hearing on the order is scheduled for Monday.
Pretti’s parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, said Saturday they were “heartbroken but also very angry,” and denounced the version of events presented by law enforcement as “a terrible lie.”
“Alex was a kind-hearted person who cared deeply for his family and friends and the American veterans he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Hospital,” the couple wrote.
GUN RIGHTS GROUPS MEET AFTER DHS SHOOT DEADLY BY CBP IN MINNEAPOLIS
A screenshot from the video shows a law enforcement officer spraying profanity at Alex Pretti before he was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 24, 2026. (Reuters)
“The murderous lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. It is clear that Alex was not holding a gun when he was attacked by Trump’s murder and the cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand raised above his head while trying to protect a woman who was recently pushed down by ICE while being pepper sprayed,” they continued.
At the time, Trump highlighted that Pretti was armed and carrying two extra magazines at the time of the shooting. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller went further than other administration members, calling Pretti a “would-be assassin” who “tried to kill law enforcement,” adding that he is a “domestic terrorist.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison he wanted a “full, impartial, and transparent investigation” into the shooting.
A federal agent fires weapons at protesters near the scene where Alex Pretti was shot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 24, 2026. (Tim Evans/Reuters)
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Ellison said he shares “deep sadness and anger” over Pretti’s death and denounced ICE’s presence in Minnesota as “an illegal and unconstitutional operation.”
Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.
