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Minneapolis — The air above Nicollet Avenue was filled with tear gas and mist from demonstrators’ breath on the morning of Saturday, January 24, after a group of masked federal agents gunned down 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti, who had stopped to record an arrest in progress.

After the Trump administration sicced thousands of federal immigration agents on the Twin Cities, Pretti’s murder came as little surprise to Minneapolis’s residents. One local told Truthout, “It was only a matter of time before they did it again,” referencing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross shooting and killing Renee Nicole Good on January 7, 2026, just over a mile from where agents killed Pretti while pinning him to the ground.

There was little consternation from the Trump administration about Pretti’s death. On Sunday, January 25, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a press briefing, “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and kill law enforcement.”

Accounts offered by federal officials differ wildly from video evidence and eyewitness accounts. Pretti approached officers holding only his cellphone in his hand, filming their arrest of an unidentified individual. After one of the masked federal agents shoved a woman, Pretti attempted to intervene before agents slammed him to the ground.

According to the Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Brian O’Hara, Pretti held a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Bystander video shot at the scene shows Pretti pinned on the street by a group of at least five officers, with his hands directly in front of him. At one point, an officer reaches into Pretti’s waistband to retrieve what appears to be a pistol, when, less than a second later, shots ring out as at least one officer discharges his weapon, killing Pretti. The 37-year-old ICU nurse was pronounced dead at the scene.

Word of the shooting circulated quickly through rapid response networks in Minneapolis, and less than an hour after Pretti’s killing, Nicollet Avenue had already descended into chaos, exacerbated by the continued presence of federal immigration agents at the scene.

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