Alex Pretti 'had a way of lighting up every room he walked into'

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital before he was shot and killed by federal agents Saturday morning on Nicollet Avenue. Family and friends, as well as former coworkers and teachers, described him as generous and kind-hearted.

“Through his work at the VA caring for the sickest patients, and passion to advance cancer research, he touched more lives than he probably ever realized,” said his sister Micayla Pretti, 32, in a statement. “All Alex ever wanted was to help someone — anyone. Even in his very last moments on this earth, he was simply trying to do just that.”

Videos from multiple angles of the killing show Pretti helping a woman who agents appeared to have pushed to the ground, after which eight agents tackle Pretti.

The videos show Pretti disarmed of a gun he never drew before he was shot by federal agents multiple times, contradicting the immediate narrative set by senior Trump administration officials that Pretti had posed a clear and present danger — including immediate accusations from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller that Alex Pretti was a domestic terrorist.

Pretti’s family members have since denounced the Trump administration in public statements.

“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,” said Michael and Susan Pretti, his parents, in a statement to media outlets Saturday.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that Pretti, who Homeland Security said was carrying a gun, was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry. O’Hara said police have not interacted with Pretti other than a few traffic tickets.

CNN reported that a group of federal agents tackled Pretti a week before he was killed, breaking a rib.

His parents told the Associated Press that they had told him in a recent conversation to be careful when protesting. He had also participated in George Floyd protests in 2020, his ex-wife told the AP.

‘A kindhearted soul’

His parents described him as “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans” he cared for as a nurse.

His sister said Pretti “had a way of lighting up every room he walked into” and “made people feel safe.”

Pretti grew up in Green Bay, Wis., where he graduated from Preble High School in 2006, a Green Bay school district spokesperson confirmed. Former teachers said he was a leader in choirs and in school drama productions. He was also a longtime member of the Green Bay Boy Choir.

Kristen Radke, creative director of the technology news site The Verge, wrote about growing up with Pretti as a neighbor and childhood friend. Radke, whose family moved away before she started high school, said Pretti was “generous, curious, sweet” as a kid.

“He loved mandarin oranges and macaroni and cheese, and we agreed it was especially pleasing when all the food on our plates was orange,” Radke wrote.

At a Monday Green Bay Board of Education meeting, Pretti’s former teachers and classmates remembered him as a friendly, funny and kind member of their community.

“I can vividly see him in my mind, standing in the bass section, right in front of me, second row, encouraging the young men around him with his quiet leadership skills,” said Susan McAllister, who taught Pretti in Preble’s music program.

“One of the things that he always did was brighten everyone’s day with a joke or a witty comment, and I can see him doing that with the veterans as well,” said Carol Miller, who directed plays and musicals that Pretti was in.

Travis Vanden Heuvel, another childhood friend of Pretti’s, said at the school board meeting that Pretti was a “helper” and “kindness incarnate.”

Life in Minnesota

Pretti later attended the University of Minnesota and graduated in 2011, a U spokesperson confirmed. On an outdated LinkedIn page, Pretti is listed as a junior scientist at the University of Minnesota Medical School starting in 2012. He later went to nursing school and became an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. State records show Pretti has been a registered nurse since 2021.

Dimitri Drekonja, an infectious diseases researcher, said in a Bluesky post that Pretti was a colleague of his at the Minneapolis VA, when Pretti’s job was recruiting for clinical trials before he became an ICU nurse.

“He was a good kind person who lived to help and these f*ckers executed him,” Drekonja wrote.

Pretti researched cancer treatments and is listed as a co-author on a 2023 cancer research poster as an affiliate of GeneSegues, a cancer research startup spun out of research at the U.

Pretti lived in the Lyndale neighborhood of south Minneapolis, according to online records — around a mile and a half from where he was killed, and a mile from where an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good on Jan. 7. He enjoyed mountain biking and gravel biking, a representative of Pretti’s family said. Angry Catfish Bicycle, a bike shop in Minneapolis, said in a social media post that he had been a member of the local cycling community and had frequented the store.

Pretti had a Catahoula Leopard dog named Joule who had recently died, whom he had adopted from a rescue shelter and took everywhere with him, the family’s representative said.

A viral video published on Facebook shows Pretti delivering the final salute to Air Force veteran Terry Randolph at a VA hospital in 2024. The video was posted by the veteran’s son, Mac Randolph, who said in the caption that his father “would be honored in Alex’s sacrifice, and ashamed of this current administration.”

In the video, Pretti reads in front of a gurney covered with a Department of Veterans Affairs flag: “Today we remember that freedom is not free. We have to work at it, nurture it, protect it, and even sacrifice for it.”

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.