The man who was shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis has been identified by his family as 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti.
He has been described as an avid outdoorsman who loved mountain biking and is understood to have joined protests after Renee Good, also 37, was shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in her car earlier this month.
Conflicting accounts have emerged about the moments leading up to his death.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said an agent fired in self-defence after Pretti, who they claim had a handgun, resisted attempts to disarm him. Some eyewitnesses and officials, as well as Pretti’s family, have challenged that account.
Videos show no evidence to support the claim he used any armed force to threaten agents.
Pretti worked as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital, his family said in a statement. They told the Associated Press news agency (AP) that he was upset by US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration in the city.
Pretti’s mother also said her son cared immensely about the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental regulations.
“He hated that, you know, people were just trashing the land,” Susan Pretti told AP.
She added: “He was an outdoorsman. He took his dog everywhere he went. You know, he loved this country, but he hated what people were doing to it.”
The AP reported that his younger sister, Micayla Pretti, released a statement calling her brother “my hero”, saying that all he “ever wanted was to help someone—anyone”.
“Alex always wanted to make a difference in this world, and it’s devastating that he won’t be here to witness the impact he was making,” her statement read.
“Through his work at the VA caring for the sickest patients, and passion to advance cancer research, he touched more lives than he probably ever realized.”
On Sunday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz described Alex Pretti as, “Someone who went to work to care for veterans, someone who was a valued co-worker, someone who relished and lived in this state in a big way, whether it was outdoor activities or being down there on the street as a First Amendment witness to what ICE is doing to this state.”
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Pretti had loved adventures with his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog Joule, who died around a year ago, AP reported.
His family said he had no interaction with law enforcement beyond a handful of traffic tickets. According to AP, court records show he had no criminal record.
Pretti’s parents said they had also recently told their son to be careful while protesting.
“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,” his father, Michael Pretti, told AP.
“And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
Pretti’s family also explained he owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota – but they had never known him to carry it.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara also said police believed he was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, the BBC’s US partner CBS reported.
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Contains upsetting scenes.
Watch: Video shows Alex Pretti giving veteran final salute in hospital
‘Please get the truth out about our son’
After seeing videos suggesting their son was a “domestic terrorist,” Pretti’s family issued a statement saying “the sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting”.
They claimed videos showed Pretti was not holding a gun when he was tackled by federal agents.
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man,” they urged in their statement.
Pretti was a Democratic voter and had taken part in the wave of street protests after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, his ex-wife told AP.
She said that he was someone who may shout at law enforcement officers at a protest but had never known him to be physically confrontational.
A US citizen born in Illinois, Pretti grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he played football, baseball and ran track for Preble High School. He was a Boy Scout and sang in the Green Bay Boy Choir.
He went to the University of Minnesota, graduating in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, society and the environment, according to his family.
He worked as a research scientist before returning to education to qualify as a registered nurse.
Reuters
A woman cries as people gather around a makeshift memorial close to where Alex Pretti was shot
His parents said their last conversation with their son was a couple of days before he was shot dead, when they spoke about repairs he had done to the garage door at his home, AP reported.
A Latino man had completed the work and Pretti’s parents said with all that was happening in Minneapolis he gave the man a $100 (£74) tip.
Doctor Dmitri Drekonja, who worked with Pretti, told ABC News the pair had bonded over their interest in mountain biking and would compare notes on which trails to ride.
“He was the type of person you enjoyed being around and the notion that this helpful, smiling joking guy was being labelled a terrorist? It’s galling,” he said.
Reuters
People gather around a makeshift memorial close to where Alex Pretti was fatally shot
Neighbours described Pretti as quiet and warmhearted.
“He’s a wonderful person,” Sue Gitar told AP, who lived downstairs from the nurse and said he moved into the building about three years ago. “He has a great heart.”
Pretti lived alone and worked long hours as a nurse, but he was not a loner, his neighbours said.
“I never thought of him as a person who carried a gun,” said Gitar.
