Federal and state officials both claim moral high ground in immigration
crackdown after shooting
[January 26, 2026]
By SARAH RAZA, STEVE KARNOWSKI and GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In dueling news conferences, federal and state
officials offered starkly different messages Sunday about the
immigration crackdown that has swept across Minneapolis and surrounding
cities, with both claiming the moral high ground after another shooting
death by federal agents.
“Which side do you want to be on?" Gov. Tim Walz asked the public. "The
side of an all-powerful federal government that could kill, injure,
menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets, or on the side of a
nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such government?” —
a reference to Saturday's shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
In a federal office building about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, Border
Patrol senior official Greg Bovino, the public face of the crackdown,
again blamed the shooting on Pretti.
“When someone makes the choice to come into an active law enforcement
scene, interfere, obstruct, delay or assault law enforcement officer and
— and they bring a weapon to do that. That is a choice that that
individual made,” he told reporters.
The competing comments emerged as local leaders and Democrats across the
country demanded federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after
Pretti's shooting, which set off clashes with protesters in a city
already shaken by another shooting death weeks earlier.
Video contradicts administration statements
Video shot by bystanders and reviewed by The Associated Press appears to
contradict statements by President Donald Trump’s administration, which
said agents fired “defensively” against Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive
care nurse, as he approached them.
Pretti can be seen with only a phone in his hand as he steps between an
immigration agent and a woman on the street. No footage appears to show
him with a weapon. During the scuffle, agents appear to disarm him after
discovering he is carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, and then open
fire several times. Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
In the hours after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem
said Pretti attacked officers, and Bovino said he wanted to “massacre
law enforcement.”
Bovino was more restrained Sunday, saying he would not speculate about
the shooting and that he planned to wait for the investigation.
Relatives say they are heartbroken
Pretti’s family said they were “heartbroken but also very angry” at
authorities. Relatives were furious at federal officials’ description of
the shooting.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are
reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when
attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone
in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head
while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being
pepper sprayed,” the family statement said. “Please get the truth out
about our son.”
A 2024 video posted to social media showed Pretti reading a salute for
veteran Terrance Lee Randolph, who died at the VA hospital where Pretti
worked.
“Today we remember that freedom is not free,” Pretti, wearing navy blue
scrubs, says in the video. “We have to work for it, nurture it, protect
it, and even sacrifice for it.”
Walz denounced as “despicable beyond all description” the comments that
federal officials made about Pretti.
"And I would say, President Trump, you can end this today. Pull these
folks back. Do humane, focused, effective immigration control,” he said.
The White House kept up its attacks on the governor, with press
secretary Karoline Leavitt posting on X that Walz "does NOT believe in
law and order” and accusing him of encouraging “left-wing agitators to
stalk and record federal officers in the middle of lawful operations.”
At the federal news conference, Marcos Charles of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement said one of their agents permanently lost a part of
his finger when a protester bit it off Saturday in Minneapolis.
“This kind of violence is not a coincidence,” Charles said. “When
sanctuary politicians, activists and the media work hard to create chaos
and fear instead of using their platforms to reassure their communities,
this is the result.”
Pretti was shot just over a mile from where an ICE officer killed
37-year-old Renee Good on Jan. 7, sparking widespread protests.
Federal officials, who are leading the investigation into the shooting,
have thwarted local attempts to participate.
Drew Evans, superintendent of the state’s Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension, which investigates police shootings, told reporters
Saturday that federal officers had blocked his agency from the scene of
the shooting even after it obtained a signed judicial warrant. Bureau
officers were working at the scene Sunday morning.
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A makeshift memorial is placed where Alex Pretti was fatally shot by
a U.S. Border Patrol officer yesterday, in Minneapolis, Sunday, Jan.
25, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A federal judge has already issued an order blocking the Trump
administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to the
shooting, after state and county officials sued.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the lawsuit filed
Saturday is meant to preserve evidence collected by federal
officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect.
A hearing is scheduled for Monday in federal court in St. Paul.
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed
the lawsuit, saying claims that the federal government would destroy
evidence are “a ridiculous attempt to divide the American people and
distract from the fact that our law enforcement officers were
attacked — and their lives were threatened.”
The Minnesota National Guard temporarily assisted local police at
Walz's direction, officials said, with troops sent to the shooting
site and a federal building where officers have squared off daily
with demonstrators.
But Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Sunday morning on
CBS' "Face the Nation" that “it’s back to just the Minneapolis
police responding to calls.”
No evidence that Pretti brandished gun
O'Hara said he had seen no evidence that Pretti brandished the
pistol, and that the crackdown was exhausting his department.
“This is taking an enormous toll, trying to manage all this chaos on
top of having to be the police department for a major city. It’s too
much,” he said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was among several
Democratic lawmakers demanding that federal immigration authorities
leave Minnesota.
In a statement, former President Barack Obama called Pretti’s death
a “heartbreaking tragedy” and warned that “many of our core values
as a nation are increasingly under assault.”
Federal officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly questioned why Pretti
was armed during the confrontation. But gun rights groups noted that
it's legal to carry firearms during protests.
Video footage shows pushing and then shooting
When the Saturday confrontation began, bystander video shows
protesters blowing whistles and shouting profanities at federal
officers on a commercial street in south Minneapolis.
The videos show Pretti stepping in after an immigration officer
shoves a woman. Pretti appears to be holding his phone toward the
officer, but there's no sign he's holding a weapon.
The officer shoves Pretti in his chest and pepper sprays him and the
woman.
Soon, at least seven officers force Pretti to the ground. Several
officers try to bring his arms behind his back as he appears to
resist. An officer holding a canister strikes him near his head
several times.
A first shot is fired by a Border Patrol officer. There’s a slight
pause, and then the same officer fires several more times into
Pretti’s back. Multiple officers back off. Within seconds, Pretti is
motionless on the street.
If Saturday was marked by clashes, with angry protesters blockading
streets and agents firing canisters of tear gas, Sunday was marked
by sadness.
Police cars with flashing lights have closed traffic to the block
where the shooting occurred, and a constant flow of people came and
went Sunday, gathering near the spot where Pretti was shot. There
were 100 or so people at the scene Sunday night. Some sang, some
prayed, some brought flowers or lit candles. TV news crews set up on
the periphery of the crowd, and a man was giving away hand warmers
with temperatures hovering just above 0 Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees
Celsius).
Brett Williams, 37, came from the city's suburbs to attend a vigil
there earlier Sunday.
“I stand in solidarity with a brother whose life was taken too
soon,” he said. “He’s standing up for immigrants. We’re all
immigrants.”
___
Associated Press writers Jack Brook and Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis,
Michael Biesecker and Michelle L. Price in Washington and Jim
Mustian in New York contributed this story.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
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