Alex Pretti was among 50 anti-ICE protesters who confronted Border Patrol before Minneapolis shooting
MINNEAPOLIS — ICU nurse Alex Pretti was part of an ad-hoc group of local protesters who turned out to confront Border Patrol agents as they arrested an illegal migrant in Minneapolis before he was gunned down Saturday, activists and residents said.“It was quiet.It was Saturday, and people weren’t working.
Word got around that a bunch of ICE agents had shown up and were making rounds, so folks mobilized,” a woman named Blair in a coffee shop around the corner before the shooting told The Post.“It wasn’t that many people — maybe 50 altogether, which sounds like a lot, but it isn’t.“At about 8:30 I heard a bunch of gunshots, and we knew something bad had happened.
The next thing we knew, ambulances showed up,” she added.During the barrage of gunshots, Pretti, 37, was tackled and shot dead by federal agents.Pretti — who treated the most ill veterans at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System — was a registered Democratic voter who had taken to the streets before during the wave of protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, which happened close to his home, according to his ex-wife.He was someone who might shout at law enforcement officers at a protest, she told the Associated Press but added that she had never known him to by physically confrontational.In recent months, the nurse was known as a regular in the area around the New American Development Center, outside which he was killed, an employee, Emma, told The Post.”For whatever reason, this is the area ICE chooses to come, so I would see him sometimes.
He was a nice guy.He would talk about how he wanted to protect his community,” Emma said.Footage showing the 60 seconds before Pretti was fatally shot appears to contradict parts of the official narrative from the Department of Homeland Security about his death.Video appears to show Pretti filming the scene on his phone as he walks toward the federal agents during Saturday’s confrontation in south Minneapoli...