DHS Secretary Kristi Noem swore the January 24th killing of Alex Pretti—an American ICU nurse gunned down by ICE agents in Minneapolis—was justified because he posed an active threat to federal officers. But just in case you still believe anything that comes out of this administration’s mouth or haven’t figured out the pattern yet, that was a lie.
Amid anti-ICE protests sweeping through Minneapolis, the federal agency yesterday proved the protesters right by claiming another victim. Alex Pretti was filming the brutality of the ICE agents on the scene, but when he came to help an observer, the agents tackled him to the ground, seized his firearm and proceeded to fire near a dozen rounds into him while he lay pinned on the sidewalk.
Right on cue to read aloud the administration’s script, Kristi Noem told reporters that Pretti had approached Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, claiming that the incident “looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” (per NPR)
The MAGA crowd probably don’t realize that in this day and age, they really can’t get away with this kind of blatant fabrication when everyone’s got a camera and the receipts will be well on their way to X before they can get their story straight.
Indeed, per video footage acquired by multiple sources like The New York Times and The Guardian, it looks like Pretti simply approached the officers with his phone. He then helped a woman who’d been shoved to the ground, at which point the ICE agents pepper-sprayed him in the face and tackled him to the ground. The video shows the federal agents punching Pretti as he falls, then someone shouts that he has a gun and around two seconds after, you can hear gunshots. The agents move away and continue to repeatedly fire at his body on the ground.
You can check out the video for yourself down below, and see why it paints an irrevocably damning picture of ICE.
Warning: This video shows the moments leading up to and including the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, which some viewers may find disturbing.
Alex was apparently a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry. His parents are asking America to see the truth.
“Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” they said, per NBC News. “He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed.”
The footage shows an execution, but the Trump administration is probably betting you’ll believe them instead of your own eyes.
Published: Jan 25, 2026 06:38 pm