Nine months after federal immigration agents fatally shot 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, his parents broke their public silence on Tuesday to accuse the Department of Justice of stonewalling their family and shielding the officers involved from accountability.
The federal government has kept Michael and Susan Pretti in the dark for 275 days following the January 24 shooting during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge. Joined by their attorney Steve Schleicher at a press conference in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, the couple demanded that federal prosecutors release all investigative files and resume evidence sharing with local authorities.
At every turn, they have ignored us, misled us and shielded Alex’s killers,
Michael Pretti told reporters, according to reporting from The Guardian.
Video Contradicts Official Accounts of the Killing
Pretti, who worked as a nurse at a veterans hospital and held a legal permit to carry a firearm, was killed in Minneapolis. Within hours of the shooting, Trump administration officials offered a sharply different narrative of the confrontation.
Then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faced scrutiny over her reaction to the killing, while Trump administration officials painted Pretti as a domestic terrorist who was armed and baselessly accused him of wanting to harm agents during immigration operations in Minnesota.
The largest DHS operation ever is happening right now in Minnesota. @POTUS Trump and @Sec_Noem have rallied DHS law enforcement personnel to keep Americans safe and ERADICATE fraud.We’re not leaving until the problem is solved. pic.twitter.com/KA4ChlFI6v
Those assertions were quickly challenged by bystander cellphone footage showing Pretti holding a cell phone rather than brandishing a weapon as agents surrounded him and took him to the ground. Government records identified the two law enforcement officers who fired their weapons during the fatal incident as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
The federal government went on TV and lied about Alex. They tried to slander his memory to cover up their crime. Not only was it wrong, it was shameful.
Susan Pretti, via The Guardian
State Officials Sue Federal Authorities Over Evidence
Tuesday’s press conference follows months of legal friction between local and federal authorities. In March, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration to compel the turnover of evidence.
While federal prosecutors briefly handed over volumes of evidence to Minnesota investigators over the summer, Hennepin County prosecutors announced that the DOJ abruptly stopped sharing information, effectively obstructing ongoing state probes into the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good.
The Pretti family’s attorney sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche over the summer accusing the DOJ of violating federal victims’ rights laws by withholding substantive updates. Government attorneys have argued in court filings that state prosecutors lack jurisdiction to investigate federal officers.
Families Demand Answers From Federal Prosecutors
In response to the family’s public statements, a Justice Department spokesperson defended the timeline of the federal probe, telling reporters that communications with relatives typically occur at later legal milestones such as indictments or trials rather than during active investigations.
No federal criminal charges have been filed against Ochoa or Gutierrez. Meanwhile, the Pretti family continues to demand transparency from U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Dan Rosen and Attorney General Blanche, insisting that investigators turn over the entire case file to local authorities.
We want to clear our son’s name. We want the world to understand who Alex really was. We want our son’s killers brought to justice once and for all.
Susan Pretti, via Common Dreams
More on Alex Pretti
LIVE now on C-SPAN: The parents of Alex Pretti, a citizen who was shot and killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis in January, hold a news conference in Minneapolis after accusing the Department of Justice of violating federal victims' rights law. https://t.co/M5PFsoHKK8