What Happened
On the morning of Jan. 24, 2026, Pretti, 37, a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse and Minneapolis resident, went to observe federal immigration agents operating in the city during a broader enforcement surge. Witnesses say he approached agents after they shoved a female bystander to the ground. Agents then threw Pretti to the ground. According to a sworn court declaration filed just hours after the shooting, at least four agents pointed guns at him before he was shot at least six or seven times.
Pretti had a legally licensed handgun on him, but multiple witnesses and video reviewed by news outlets say he never drew or brandished it. On Feb. 2, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide, listing multiple gunshot wounds as the cause.
DHS’s Account vs. the Evidence
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem initially said Pretti had “brandished” a gun and approached agents intending to harm them, framing the shooting as self-defense, and federal officials suggested he’d planned an act of domestic terrorism. Days later, under direct questioning, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino backed off that account, saying only that Pretti had “brought a weapon … to a riot” — not that he ever pointed it at anyone.
Pretti was the second U.S. citizen shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis within a month, after Renee Good’s death on Jan. 7. President Trump later said the deaths “should not have happened.” Pretti’s father said his son had joined the protests because he “cared about people deeply and he was very upset” by what he was seeing happen in the city.
