A CNN panelist and co-host of “The View” described Alex Pretti this week as the “perfect guy,” shortly before video emerged of him kicking and spitting at federal agents several days before the fatal altercation.
On CNN’s “NewsNight,” Navarro called Pretti the sort of man you’d want your daughter to date.
“They killed the wrong guy, because this is like the perfect guy,” she said. “Alex Pretti is the guy you’d want to date your daughter, the guy you want your son to grow up to be, a decent human being who was serving humanity, serving sick veterans.”
“There is nothing that has been said about that man that isn’t wonderful. And so they can’t malign him,” Navarro added.
Her remarks reflected a broader media narrative that cast Pretti in overwhelmingly positive terms following his death.
Pretti, an ICU nurse who worked with veterans, was killed by Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24.
Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24.AP
“Alex Pretti is the guy you’d want to date your daughter,” Navarro said.CNN
He had been protesting immigration enforcement and recording federal agents when they pushed him to the ground and then shot him.
Bodycam footage of the incident showed federal agents grabbing a pistol from Pretti’s waistband before he was shot.
State officials have said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, and his death has touched off a national debate over whether it was justified, with some critics even saying he was murdered.
An unearthed video released Wednesday shows Pretti spitting at federal agents during a separate protest on Jan. 13.
The News Movement published the clip, and his family confirmed to the Minnesota Star Tribune that it was him.
In the video, Pretti can be seen shouting, spitting and kicking out a federal SUV’s taillight.
This undated photo provided by Michael Pretti shows Alex J. Pretti, the man who was shot by federal officers in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.AP
The man repeatedly shouts “f— you” and flashes his middle fingers at the agents before being taken to the ground. He was not arrested.
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The Pretti family’s attorney, Steve Schleicher, told Fox News, “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street – despite posing no threat to anyone – he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents.”
“Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan. 24,” he added.
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