Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis ICU nurse and U.S. citizen, was killed during a federal immigration operation as family and colleagues demand answers.
͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

Get all access now and save 25% when you upgrade to become a paid subscriber today. Your subscription upgrade is a direct investment in defending democracy, helping Lincoln Square build a pro-democracy media machine to fight disinformation and inform voters with the facts.

Unlock All-Access-25% off

The truth is under attack. Your support is how we defend it.


Another American Citizen Killed in Broad Daylight by Federal Immigration Agents in Minneapolis

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis ICU nurse and U.S. citizen, was killed during a federal immigration operation as family and colleagues demand answers.

The Intellectualist
Jan 25
∙
Preview
∙
Guest post
 
READ IN APP
 

Brian Daitzman is the Editor of The Intellectualist. Subscribe to his Substack.

Illustration by Riley Levine

In broad daylight on a busy Minneapolis street, federal immigration agents killed a 37-year-old American citizen as bystanders filmed and chaos unfolded. Alex Pretti was a nurse, a protester, and a witness. The videos are public. The answers are not. What happened in those moments now hangs over the city—and far beyond it.

Upgrade to paid

On Saturday morning, January 24, a 37-year-old American citizen was shot and killed in broad daylight on a Minneapolis street by federal immigration agents, according to the Associated Press and local authorities. His name was Alex Jeffrey Pretti. He was an intensive care unit nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, a licensed healthcare professional, and a U.S. citizen. Police later confirmed he was also a lawful gun owner. He is the second American citizen killed this month in Minneapolis during federal immigration enforcement operations, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

The killing occurred shortly before 9 a.m. in the Whittier neighborhood near Nicollet Avenue, a dense, mixed-use area known for restaurants, apartments, and heavy pedestrian traffic. Federal agents affiliated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol were conducting an operation in the area amid an intensified immigration crackdown.

Within minutes of the shooting, bystander videos began circulating online, showing a chaotic confrontation between armed federal agents and civilians, as documented by the Guardian and local outlets.

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

According to his family and colleagues, Pretti was in Minneapolis because he was deeply disturbed by what he saw as aggressive and destabilizing federal immigration actions. His father, Michael Pretti, told the Associated Press that his son believed showing up, witnessing events, and documenting them was a way to express care for others. He had participated in protests earlier this month following the killing of another U.S. citizen by an immigration officer, a fact confirmed by his family and reported by the Associated Press.

Colleagues described Pretti as a caregiver by instinct. He worked in the ICU caring for veterans, assisted with clinical research, and was known for stepping in when others needed help. “He wanted to help people,” said Dimitri Drekonja, chief of infectious diseases at the VA hospital, who worked with Pretti on a research project, according to the Guardian. Friends and coworkers described him as gentle, humorous, and deeply committed to his patients...

Subscribe to Lincoln Square to unlock the rest.

Become a paying subscriber of Lincoln Square to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Upgrade to paid

A subscription gets you:

All-Access to our weekly roundups, daily commentary, all LIVE! events w/ special guest, $20 in Lincoln Bucks every 60 days
Weekly Strategy Sessions w/ Rick, Stuart, Joe & guests, The Enemies List, Trippi Show, Anchor Watch
Ad-free podcasts, live & community chats, discounts in our store. Access to our full archive
 
Like
Comment
Restack
 

© 2026 Resolute Square PBC d/b/a Lincoln Square
998 South Main Street, PMB 163, Stowe, VT 05672
Unsubscribe

Get the appStart writing