FOR the second time in a month, United States federal agents shot and killed an American citizen whose only “crime,” apparently, was to oppose the mindless and brutal federal campaign to cleanse America of immigrants.
On Jan. 24, 2026, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive-care nurse, was shot and killed by US Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The killing occurred in broad daylight, during a federal immigration enforcement operation.
Pretti was an American citizen and a dedicated ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, where he was known for his compassionate care of veterans.
Friends and colleagues described him as a “kindhearted soul” and a “class clown” who lightened the mood in the hospital.
He was also an active participant in local protests, including those following the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the recent shooting of poet Renée Good. His family said he was deeply concerned by recent immigration enforcement tactics.
Based on reports of the incident, Pretti was filming federal agents with his mobile phone. Video evidence shows him intervening when a federal agent pushed a woman to the ground, standing between the agent and the woman, and putting his arm around her to assist her.
An agent then pepper-sprayed Pretti and shoved him, and about six agents surrounded him and wrestled him to the sidewalk. Witnesses and video analysis indicate that agents repeatedly beat Pretti with an object and their hands while he was on the ground, pinned face down.
A number of news organizations, including Reuters and The New York Times, as well as video analyzes from CNN, suggest that moments before the shots were fired, an agent reached under Pretti’s shirt and removed a handgun. The agent is seen moving away with the weapon.
Less than a second later, despite appearing to be disarmed and pinned, Pretti was shot at least 10 times within a five-second window. Reports said at least two agents discharged their weapons.
Videos of the killing also show that agents continued to fire even after Pretti had collapsed, and his body lay motionless on the ground. There were at least three bullet wounds in Pretti’s back, one in the upper left chest and a possible wound to the neck.
Pretty’s killing came after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Good, also 37, and a US citizen, in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. This took place just blocks from Good’s home. She had dropped her 6-year-old son off at a nearby school and was driving with her partner when they encountered a group of ICE agents, who were reportedly conducting enforcement operations in the area.
Bystander videos show ICE agent Jonathan Ross walking around Good’s vehicle while recording it with his phone. Another agent approached the driver’s side and reached through an open window.
As Good began to drive forward and turn away from the agents to enter the flow of traffic, Ross — standing near the front-left of the sports utility vehicle — drew his firearm and fired three shots into the vehicle as it passed him. Good was struck three times and died shortly after at a hospital.
In both cases, US President Donald Trump and his minions described the victims as “domestic terrorists” — the new term, apparently, for those who oppose the indiscriminate and violent anti-immigrant campaign that recalls the Brownshirts of Nazi Germany, who used violence, intimidation and terror to strengthen Adolf Hitler’s grip on power.
Americans, a majority of whom voted Trump into office, may believe the official propaganda but the rest of the world who have watched the bystander videos circulating on the internet know better.
The federal government’s decision to send border patrol and immigration agents to Minneapolis, far from any international border, to perform local riot control shows that those in power see them as a centralized police force that can be deployed in any US city, regardless of the wishes of state governors or local mayors.
The two shooting deaths also show clearly how badly constitutional rights in the US have eroded. Surely, being shot dead for being at a protest is an extreme example of unreasonable government intrusion, which the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution bars.
Finally, both cases show the lack of accountability of those who enforce the administration’s misguided policies.
This is not the America that earned the respect and admiration of much of the world over the years after World War II.
Aside from being an economic powerhouse, the US was often seen as the “City on a Hill,” known for its democratic ideals such as free speech and the rule of law, which says even the most powerful leaders are subject to the law.
This has now been overturned by the ascendance of Trump and his jackboot thugs who kill while stifling dissent.
