The video is unbearable.
A nurse trying to help a woman in the snow.
Pepper spray. A tackle. Then the shots that ended his life.
Now, as millions demand answers, a powerful Border Patrol commander has publicly praised the agents who killed Alex Pretti — even calling them the real “victims” of the encounter.
On January 24, 2026, 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti — an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and a U.S. citizen with no criminal history — was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents during a federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Witness and bystander video circulated online appears to show him holding only a phone and trying to help a woman pushed down by agents before he was pepper-sprayed, taken to the ground, disarmed, and then shot multiple times.
To his family and many who have watched the footage, Pretti was a gentle healer who instinctively rushed toward pain and chaos to help, not to harm. Friends and colleagues remember him as compassionate, skilled, and deeply committed to caring for veterans — the very people he spent his working life serving.
Yet Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol commander, took to national television in the days after the shooting to defend the agents involved. He repeatedly portrayed agents as the true victims of the incident, saying Pretti “put himself in that situation” and suggesting the officers prevented “any specific shootings of law enforcement.” Critics have pointed out that his statements often conflict with available video evidence and eyewitness accounts.
That disconnect — between what people see and what officials claim — is fueling fury in the streets. Protesters are chanting Pretti’s name alongside others killed during recent federal immigration operations, demanding independent federal investigations, the release of body-cam footage, and genuine accountability for use of force by federal agents.
The national response has been intense. The White House has said multiple federal investigations are underway, while state leaders and local officials continue to call for transparency and access to evidence. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are pressing for clearer answers as the legal and political fallout widens.
For Pretti’s father, the message remains heartbreakingly simple and consistent: his son died trying to help someone — not to hurt anyone. That personal truth, echoed by family members and supporters, stands in sharp contrast to some official narratives, and it has become a rallying cry for those who say this death should not be just another headline.
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