Melody Schreiber
The Minnesota man who was killed by federal agents on Saturday has been identified as Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse working in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System.
It’s the second fatal shooting this month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in addition to another non-fatal shooting, amid a major crackdown in Minnesota by federal agents.
Alex Pretti Photograph: AP
Pretti attended nursing school at the University of Minnesota, where he was also a junior scientist beginning in 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“He wanted to help people,” said Dimitri Drekonja, chief of infectious diseases at the VA hospital and professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, who worked with Pretti at the hospital and on a research project. “He was a super nice, super helpful guy – looked after his patients. I’m just stunned.”
He described Pretti as an “outstanding” nurse and a hard worker, quick with a joke and an “infectious” spirit. “He was such a good dude,” Drekonja told the Guardian. “I just love working with him.”
Michael Pretti, Alex’s father, echoed Drekonja’s assessment, describing his son to the Associated Press as someone who “cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset.”
“He felt that doing the protesting was a way to express that, you know, his care for others,” the elder Pretti said.
You can read more on Pretti here.
Updated at 16.23 EST
Key events
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Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has this to say on X: “Thank God for the patriots of @ICEgov — we have your back 100%. You are SAVING the country. Shame on the leadership of Minnesota — and the lunatics in the street.”
There is sharp disagreement between the federal government and the authorities in Minnesota about who is causing chaos and who is trying to make the city safer.
US vice president JD Vance said today on X, after the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal officers who pinned him to the street, that when he visited Minneapolis two days ago “what the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents wanted more than anything was to work with local law enforcement so that situations on the ground didn’t get out of hand.”
But what is going on in Minneapolis is that thousands of federal immigration officers surged into this relatively small city and began targeting residents as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
Local leaders did not support this federal effort and were not prepared to have state or local police and sheriffs assist ICE. At the same time, many residents in this liberal city were outraged at the heavy presence of ICE, and also Border Patrol agents, with these federal personnel using aggressive tactics to apprehend people for anti-immigration reasons.
ICE and Border Patrol then also turned their tactics on protesters and community observers who warn people in neighborhoods when an immigration enforcement appears to be imminent. The temperature went way up (even as everyone was out in snow and ice and Arctic conditions). Then Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE officer on January 7 even as she told the Fed she “was not mad” at him and started to drive away (after another officer told her to “get out of the fucking car”), and protesters became angrier and efforts by the Feds to stop or discourage them became more violent.
Local leaders demanded ICE leave. More federal officers arrived and started calling any protesters rioters and agitators. And on Saturday Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal officers, further enraging residents and local leaders. Local leaders once again asked the Feds to leave, saying their conduct was “an abomination”.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), trying to talk about the huge, dangerous winter storm that is blasting across the US.
But she just asked the gathered media representatives if anyone wants to ask her about the storm and the reporters only want to ask her about the fatal shooting in Minneapolis.
Asked whether the federal government is willing to have Minnesota investigate the shooting of Alex Pretti earlier today, she said “Who would trust Governor Walz at this point?”
An angry Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, held a press conference earlier and demanded that the state investigate the killing.
Meanwhile, you can follow all the news about the monster storm that is forecast to affect more than 200 million people across the US with our live updates here.
DHS secretary Kristi Noem has followed other federal leaders in declining to answer journalists’ questions about whether Alex Pretti was holding or “brandishing” a gun when he was shot dead by a federal agent or agents this morning.
Noem first said that Pretti “attacked those officers and had a weapon on him” and she just said he “showed up with a weapon and ammunition”, which is also inexact. The Minneapolis police said Pretti was licensed to carry a weapon. But no-one from the Trump administration so far questioned in public will answer clearly whether Pretti had his gun drawn or tried to draw it.
Noem was asked to comment on witness reports that Pretti had been disarmed by the Feds before he was shot. She ignored the question.
However, she did say that “an HSI agent’s finger was bitten off.” The Guardian is not aware of this reported incident. If we hear more on this, we’ll update you.
HSI is one of the branches of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under the umbrella of the DHS. It stands for Homeland Security Investigations.
Here’s our explainer on who is who on the frontline of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge.
ShareDHS Secretary Noem calls death “tragic” but says agents were doing their “lawful duty”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is beginning a press conference.
She has called the death of Alex Pretti today, shot dead by a federal agent in Minneapolis, a “tragic situation”.
She said that Pretti was killed by the Feds “as they carried out their lawful duty to keep Americans safe in the face of illegal aliens”.
Noem said that agents were trying to apprehend a person who was in the US illegally and who had a record of domestic assault, disorderly conduct and driving without a license.
In the process of that, she said, as Border Patrol said earlier, the officers were approached by a third party, an armed man carrying a 9mm pistol.
The federal authorities have still not said clearly whether Pretti was holding his gun or drew it or attempted to draw it. He was carrying it legally, local police have said.
But Noem said: “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived on the scene to…kill law enforcement officers.”
Asked by reporters “did he brandish a gun?” she said that “this individual showed up to impede a law enforcement operation and assaulted our officers. I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign. This is a violent riot when you have someone showing up with weapons.” But no-one will actually answer the specific question.
Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Washington, DC. She is chiefly talking about the coming storm, but made remarks about the fatal shooting in Minneapolis. Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/APShare
Updated at 18.06 EST
US Congressman Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, has called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached and has denounced statements from the administration about the man DHS agents killed earlier today.
Apparently, the Trump administration and its secret police only support the First and Second Amendments when it’s convenient to them,” the representative from Mississippi said, referring to the rights under the US constitution to free speech and having a gun.
Thompson called on Democrats in the US Senate to vote against a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that passed the lower chamber last week, the Associated Press reports.
This is un-American and has to stop. The House must immediately take steps to impeach Kristi Noem,” he said.
Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) leads a group of House Democrats in a press conference about their response to the fatal shooting of Renee Good, who was shot and killed in Minneapolis on January 7 by a US immigration and Customs (ICE) officer. Thompson was speaking at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/ReutersShare
CNN a little earlier aired an interview with a man called Nilson Barahona, who was in a donut shop outside of which Alex Pretti was shot dead by a federal agent this morning.
Barahona, who was on the verge of tears, told the cable news network that was he saw was federal immigration enforcement officers try to apprehend a man who then went into a business and locked the door out of their reach.
A woman who was protesting against the federal officers was being pulled by them and a man, who later turned out to be Pretti, went to her assistance, Barahona further said, as reported by CNN.
The officers then turned on the man and it ended in a confrontation where he, Pretti, was shot dead, with Barahona telling CNN that he didn’t see Pretti holding or reaching for his gun (which he was legally entitled to own and carry in Minneapolis, according to the local authorities), contrary to what the federal government has said.
Shrai Popat
One of Donald Trump’s top advisers, and the architect of his immigration policy, Stephen Miller wrote on social media that Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old who was killed by a federal immigration agent was “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement”.
A reminder that border patrol official, Gregory Bovino, said that the man who was killed was armed and approached officers attempting to arrest a person who entered the US illegally. Bovino said an officer shot the US citizen in self-defense. However, bystander video footage of the incident contradicts officials’ assessment.
Stephen Miller at Zurich International Airport, Switzerland, January 21. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/ReutersShare
Shrai Popat
In his social media posts today, Donald Trump repeated his claims that federal immigration agents descended on Minneapolis because of large-scale fraud cases in Minnesota, where federal funds for several social service programs, from Medicaid to child-nutrition in the Covid pandemic, were misused.
A number of Somali-Americans are defendants in these cases, which has fueled vitriol, particularly from right wing commentators, against the community. The president has routinely denigrated the Somali population in the state, often launching into xenophobic rants during public events.
On Truth Social the president suggested that the unrest in Minneapolis – including today’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents – was “a COVER UP for this Theft and Fraud”. Trump chastised Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, writing that “these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota.”
Trump also went after one of his mainstay Democratic targets in Congress, Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar. A Somali-American lawmaker that Trump has frequently insulted with racist remarks, and threats that she should be “sent back to Somalia”. Omar came to the US as a refugee when she was a teenager before becoming an American citizen more than 20 years ago. After today’s shooting, Trump questioned: “Why does Ilhan Omar have $34 Million Dollars in her account?”. This week, the president called for a criminal investigation into the congresswoman’s finances, claiming that “there is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician”.
Donald Trump attends a reception with business leaders during the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/ReutersShare
The scene in south Minneapolis in the immediate vicinity of where a federal agent shot dead Alex Pretti has changed quite significantly in the last couple of hours.
Immediately after Pretti was shot, protesters became very agitated and federal personnel were firing tear gas and flash bangs in scenes of chaos, with people coughing and choking.
Local leaders appealed for calm. Not long after that, state and local police officers arrived on the scene and could be seen standing between protesters and federal officers.
But a bit later, the feds left the scene. The local and state police also left because they were so few in number, leaders said. The streets immediately around where the shooting took place are currently orderly and relatively quiet, with several hundred protesters standing and demonstrating against ICE but without the tension that accompanied the situation earlier.
Flowers been placed and the beginnings of a makeshift memorial are emerging at the spot where Pretti was shot dead. Someone has lit a small bonfire to keep people warm as the temperature in Minneapolis right now is minus 3 Fahrenheit, or minus 19 Celsius.
Protest against ICE after federal agents fatally shot a man while trying to detain him, in Minneapolis. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersShare
Updated at 16.50 EST
Senate Democrats condemn fatal Minneapolis shooting ahead of pivotal DHS funding vote
Shrai Popat
Senate lawmakers have started reacting to the news that federal immigration agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis today. In response, some Democratic senators have said they plan to vote against a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill that’s set to hit the upper-chamber floor this week on Capitol Hill.
On Thursday, the House passed the bill to keep the department funded through 30 September. A reminder that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) falls under the DHS.
Despite, top Democrats in the House pushing a vote against the legislation – which would keep ICE’s budget at $10bn – it advanced by a slim margin.
“The Senate should not vote to keep funding this rampage,” said Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut. “We are not powerless. We do not need to accept this.”
In a post on social media, senator Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, said he “will do everything I can to get these goon squads out of our communities and hold them accountable — starting by not voting to give them another dime.”
Meanwhile, Massachusetts lawmaker Ed Markey said that “Americans are watching in outrage while their neighbors are murdered on tv and cities get taken over. Senators have the power to do something about it. We need to stop funding DHS now.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen was in agreement as he reposted the video of Pretti’s death. “Congress must cut-off funding for these heinous acts NOW!,” he wrote.
The DHS budget bill will be part of a larger appropriations package heading to the Senate this week. It will need to clear a 60-vote hurdle before funding lapses on 30 January. All eyes will be on Senate Democrats to see if they hold-out and risk another government shutdown, just two months after a record-breaking closure over healthcare provisions.
Updated at 16.32 EST