The family of an anti-ICE protester is speaking out after he was fatally shot on Saturday, January 24.
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, lost his life in the streets of Minneapolis, just weeks after Renee Good was also shot in her vehicle.
The Department of Homeland Security claims its agents opened fire in self-defense, asserting that Pretti was armed with a handgun.
However, witnesses and family members dispute this account, arguing that he was only holding his phone.
A DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, informed the BBC: “The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Pretti’s family has come forward to describe him as an outdoor enthusiast who was deeply compassionate.
“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” said Pretti’s father, Michael Pretti.
“He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”
Michael also shared: “We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically.
“And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
Pretti had no criminal record, with his family noting his lack of previous police encounters.
Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official, alleged that Pretti aimed to ‘massacre law enforcement’.
Nonetheless, Pretti’s family is calling on others to ‘help get the truth out about our son’.
They stated: “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.”
The family asserts that Pretti’s hands were visible and that he was attempting to protect a nearby woman.
On Truth Social, President Donald Trump posted a photo of a handgun, commenting: “This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — Not an easy thing to do!”