Minneapolis, Jan 25 (V7N) — A 37-year-old U.S. citizen, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during a law enforcement operation on Saturday (January 24), sparking widespread protests and criticism from local leaders and community members.

Pretti, an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, was lawfully carrying a gun and had no criminal history, according to local officials. Video reviewed by multiple news outlets shows him holding a cellphone, not a firearm, just before he was pepper-sprayed, wrestled to the ground and shot multiple times by U.S. Border Patrol agents during the encounter.

Federal authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security, have said officers fired in self-defense after attempting to disarm Pretti, whom they described as resisting with a handgun. However, local leaders and eyewitness accounts dispute this version and point to widely shared video footage that appears to show Pretti trying to help other protesters when he was subdued. 

The shooting occurred amid a broader federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis that already drew national attention after another U.S. citizen, Renée Good, was killed by an ICE agent earlier in January.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in Minneapolis and other cities to protest the killing, expressing anger over federal immigration tactics and calling for accountability. Officials including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey criticized the federal operation and demanded stronger scrutiny of the federal response.

This incident has intensified an ongoing debate in the U.S. about immigration enforcement practices, the role of federal agents in local communities, and the use of force, especially when involving unarmed or legally armed citizens.

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