Alex Pretty.Photo: Dimitri Drekonja
The Minnesota man who was killed by federal agents on Saturday has been identified as Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse who works in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, which serves veterans.
It is 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.
Pretti attended nursing school at the University of Minnesota, where he was also a junior scientist starting 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 guy, super helpful – he took care of his patients. I’m just stunned.”
He described Pretti as an “outstanding” nurse and hard worker, quick with an “infectious” joke and spirit. “He was such a good man,” Drekonja told the Guardian. “I love working with him.”
Michael Pretti, Alex’s father, echoed Drekonja’s assessment, describing his son to the Associated Press as someone who “cared deeply for people and was very saddened by what was happening in Minneapolis and across the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are saddened.”
“He felt that doing the protest was a way of expressing that, you know, his care for others,” the elder Pretti said.
Pretti’s father confirmed to the AP that his son had participated in protests following the killing of Renee Good by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month.
Videos circulating online Saturday show Pretti directing traffic and filming federal agents, his right hand holding the phone and his left empty. Another video shows him wrestled to the ground by several law enforcement officers before apparently being shot multiple times. At least two officers can be seen with their weapons drawn. Other videos show Pretti apparently coming to the defense of a legal observer who was knocked to the ground by a federal officer. That officer then sprays Pretti with a chemical agent, repeatedly, before tackling him in the street along with other agents.
As at least five agents pin Pretti to the ground, one appears to shoot at him at close range, followed by a volley of more shots, after which his body continues to move.
“From what I can see, he was trying to help get somebody away, which is just totally in character for him,” Drekonja said.
Related: A 37-year-old American citizen killed by federal agents in Minneapolis
Police chief Brian O’Hara later said at a news conference Saturday that Pretti’s only known previous interaction with law enforcement was for traffic tickets. O’Hara also noted that Pretti was “a legal gun owner with a permit to carry”.
Pretti’s parents, who live in Wisconsin, told the AP that during a recent conversation with their son, they warned him to be careful during the protests.
“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that they go ahead and protest, but they don’t go in, they don’t do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
When Pretti was in nursing school, Drekonja hired him to help support a study on the prevention of C diff, a devastating bacterial infection. “He was instrumental in completing our trial,” said Drekonja. “He was always asking the rest of the team what he could do. He was always trying to do what he could to free up space for others.”
Pretti got his nursing license in 2021, and was active until 2026. He also helped with research in 2016.
The Minnesota Organization of Registered Nurses (MNORN) released a statement on Pretti’s death Saturday afternoon: “Today, our nursing community is grieving. We have lost a fellow registered nurse to an act of violence connected to immigration enforcement. Regardless of where any of us stand on the issues surrounding this moment, the loss of a nurse, our friends, our friends, our care partners.
“This message is not about politics. It is about grieving a life taken too soon and honoring the calling that we all share. As nurses, we understand loss in a way that others may not. We know how quickly life can change, how fragile safety can feel, and how the pain reaches beyond one individual to families, colleagues, patients and communities. When one nurse is lost, they all feel it.”
Pretti loved mountain biking, and he and Drekonja always talked about cycling together on the trails they both frequented.
“He found humor in life, and that’s what makes him so sad when he sees this,” said Drekonja. “It’s just a huge tragedy.”