VA Doctor Remembers Alex Pretti, 37-Year-Old Man Killed by ICE, as ‘Kind and Helpful’ ICU Nurse 

Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis, is being remembered by a colleague as warm-hearted, upbeat, and exceptionally good at his job.

“He was energetic, he was kind. He was always quick to have a joke or a laugh,” Dr. Dimitri Drekonja, an infectious disease physician at the VA Medical Center where Pretti worked, said in an exclusive interview.

Drekonja added that Pretti stood out for how confidently and clearly he handled patient care and shift handoffs.

“He was very capable. When he gave a summary of the shift … [he] had all the information at his fingertips,” Drekonja said. “He would tell me how the family was doing. He was a very, very skilled nurse.”

For Drekonja, the most important thing people should know about Pretti is that he consistently showed up for others.

“The biggest thing” he wants others to remember, Drekonja said, is “that this was a kind and helpful guy — and nothing over the years that I knew him contradicted that. He was always willing to help. Whether it was a small task, whether it was patient care, whether it was, ‘Hey, I can give you a ride over, we’re gonna meet for drinks after work.’ He was just a really kind guy.”

“It’s just been gutting,” he said of Pretti’s death, adding that colleagues at the hospital “want people to know that [Pretti] was a good person. He was such a nice guy.”

Drekonja also said he and Pretti bonded over mountain biking and often talked about their favorite local routes.

Pretti had been a registered nurse since January 2021, according to his nursing license. He previously worked at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Pretti was shot and killed on Saturday, Jan. 24, at about 9:00 a.m. local time.

In a statement, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said “DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault.”

McLaughlin claimed Pretti “approached” U.S. Border Patrol officers while armed with a handgun and “violently resisted” as officers tried to disarm him, saying an agent then fired “defensive shots.”

“Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject, but was pronounced dead at the scene,” McLaughlin said.

At a press conference after the shooting, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that, to his knowledge, Pretti’s only prior interaction with law enforcement involved parking tickets. He added that Pretti was a “lawful gun owner” with a permit.

O’Hara said preliminary details suggested there was “more than one law enforcement officer involved in the discharge,” and pointed to “public video that shows several law enforcement officers in a scuffle with someone.”

When asked about DHS’ description of the incident, O’Hara said, “The video speaks for itself.”

Soon after the shooting, at least 200 protesters gathered near the scene, The Associated Press reported, leading to confrontations between federal law enforcement and locals.