Here’s what to know about federal agents’ killing of Alex Pretti in south Minneapolis

Federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 in south Minneapolis during an immigration enforcement action, prompting local leaders to implore the Trump administration to end the massive immigration operation that’s rocked the city.

Pretti’s death comes less than three weeks after a federal agent fatally shot Renee Good, 37, setting off large protests in a city that’s been on edge since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents began flooding into the city at the end of last year.

Federal officials claimed that Pretti approached agents with a handgun and intent to do harm to law enforcement. But multiple videos of the shooting do not show Pretti holding, pointing or attempting to fire a weapon. State leaders are seeking to investigate what happened against noncooperation from federal agencies, with Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara saying state investigators are in uncharted territory.

Here’s what to know.

Federal authorities said they were attempting to detain an Ecuadorian man with a criminal history when the fatal shooting occurred. A large group of witnesses had amassed that morning in Whittier, a neighborhood located in the same southern swath of the city where federal agents killed Good.

Several bystander videos show Pretti approaching a group of agents and leading two people away after agents shoved them. An agent then sprays Pretti in the face with a chemical irritant before several tackle him to the ground.

An agent pulls a gun from the scrum before at least one agent shoots Pretti, who appears to be on his knees. More shots ring out as Pretti lies limp.

Photos of a gun DHS shared and claimed Pretti was carrying show a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol that’s frequently carried by U.S. military and law enforcement. Pretti had a permit to carry the weapon.

Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino, the public face of ICE’s massive presence in Minnesota, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have asserted at multiple news conferences that Pretti was interfering with agents, and accused Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of encouraging lawlessness.

The Minnesota Star Tribune fact-checked federal officials’ central claims, finding video and witness accounts contradict Bovino and Noem’s description of Petti’s death.

Among the Star Tribune’s findings: video doesn’t show Pretti pointing a firearm, attempting to fire a weapon or advancing toward agents with a gun raised. He is instead captured holding a cellphone, appearing to record.

O’Hara of the Minneapolis Police said on CBS a day after the shooting that he didn’t believe Pretti was brandishing a gun.

Frey and Walz, both Democrats, have called on the Trump administration to immediately end Operation Metro Surge, which ICE has called the “largest immigration operation ever.”

Several Democratic members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation have begged their Republican colleagues to try to put a stop to the situation.

Republicans have offered mixed reactions.

Sen. Zach Duckworth, a Republican legislator from Lakeville, said on social media that the state is “long overdue for a tactical pause.”

House Republican Tom Emmer quickly took to X to claim local leaders’ “rhetoric empowered criminals and put federal law enforcement’s lives at risk,” though a growing number of congressional Republicans are calling for a deeper investigation into immigration enforcement tactics in Minnesota.

Colleagues described him as caring and funny, possessed of the people and medical skills to treat critically ill veterans.

He went to high school in Wisconsin before graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2011. His parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, described their son in a statement to CNN as a “kindhearted soul” and slammed federal officials for telling “sickening lies” about him.

“Please get the truth out about our son,” they said. “He was a good man.”

State officials have said they are conducting their own probe of Pretti’s killing while slamming the federal government for apparent missteps.

Shortly after shooting Pretti, federal agents left the scene, leaving it unsecure as protesters gathered. State investigators were physically blocked from accessing the crime scene to conduct an independent investigation. They accessed the area for the first time on Sunday.

Noem said on Sunday that her office would lead the federal investigation into the agents’ use of force.

Bovino previously said he has no plans to end the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota.

Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Trump administration over the deployment of federal immigration agents earlier this month. After Pretti’s killing, local officials urged a federal judge to issue an immediate order that would temporarily halt the operation.