Border Patrol Officers Fatally Shoot Alex Pretti, a 37-Year-Old Nurse, in Minneapolis
On the morning of January 24, 2026, a fatal shooting by federal officers took place in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old resident of the city, was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol officers near Nicollet Avenue. Pretti was a United States citizen who worked as an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that day that at 9:05 a.m. Central Time, as its officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but he violently resisted, the statement said, and, fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. The statement said the man also had two magazines and no identification, and that it looked like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking at a news conference in Washington that evening, said Pretti had attacked the officers, had a weapon on him and dozens of rounds of ammunition, and was impeding the work the officers were doing; she described the incident as domestic terrorism. Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander in charge of the immigration operation, also said that day that Pretti had intended to inflict maximum damage on law enforcement.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said that day that the deceased was a 37-year-old white male and a resident of the city, a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, and that police believed he was a United States citizen. O'Hara said federal authorities were not sharing information with his office. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he had spoken with the White House about what he called a sickening shooting, demanded an end to the immigration enforcement operation, and said the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension would take part in the investigation. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey demanded that federal immigration officers leave the city.
It was the third shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis in January 2026. On January 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Renee Good, 37; on January 14, another man was shot in the leg by federal officers. Protests in the city continued after the three shootings.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市的市政厅大楼外景（资料照片）。Michael Barera 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons；城市固定图库标准图。 / Photo: Minneapolis City Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota (file photo). Photo by Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; city fixed-library image.
- 2026-01-24Border Patrol Officers Fatally Shoot Alex Pretti, a 37-Year-Old Nurse, in MinneapolisThis story
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