The parents of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, have given their first sit-down interview about their son.
Michael and Susan Pretti spoke with The New York Times for a profile published Tuesday, Feb. 10, nearly three weeks after video of the shooting spread widely on social media.
They said they mute the television and close their eyes whenever the footage is shown. Even so, Michael said, “It’s so clear as to what happened.”
Alex was attending a protest against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that day. His parents said that when he approached a group of immigration agents to help another protester who had been pushed to the ground, agents grabbed him, forced him to the ground, and shot him multiple times in the back.
Alex often carried a handgun at protests and had a valid permit, his parents said. They also said he told them about a confrontation with federal agents on Jan. 13, days before his death. Video from that earlier incident showed him kicking the back of a vehicle and spitting toward an agent before he was tackled and briefly detained.
However, the family’s lawyer, Steven Schleicher, said, “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing.”
In the aftermath of Alex’s death, the Trump administration made public statements defending Border Patrol’s actions. The president labeled Alex an “insurrectionist” and an “agitator.” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who also serves as Trump’s homeland security adviser, called him a “domestic terrorist” who “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement.” The Department of Homeland Security said Alex “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and “violently resisted” efforts to disarm him before an agent “fired defensive shots.”
Alex’s parents called the statements “sickening lies.” Video evidence, they said, suggests he never drew his gun and was disarmed before being fatally shot.
“His last act on this earth, his last thought, was to help this woman,” Michael said. “The truth is, he was an exceptionally kind, caring man.”
“It’s who he was, every day,” Susan added. “He’s the same Alex he always was.”
Michael said Alex’s caring nature was what drew him to the protest in the first place, recalling a phone call with his son as immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis escalated.
“He said, ‘Mom, they’re kidnapping kids,’” Michael recalled. “‘Why would anybody do that? Why would people treat each other like that? That just doesn’t make any sense. There’s no reason to.’”
On Feb. 2, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled that Alex’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was homicide.
Schleicher said the family is seeking “facts and accountability” about the day Alex was killed.
“He’s my firstborn,” Susan said. “He’s the one that made me a mother. There was no reason he should have died that day.”
