A pair of witness testimonies has completely dismantled the government’s official narrative surrounding the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. Two witnesses have now provided sworn testimony confirming the 37-year-old intensive care nurse was not brandishing a weapon when he was shot, as reported by The Guardian, directly contradicting claims made by President Trump and other officials who tried to frame the shooting of the prone man as self-defense.
These powerful accounts were filed in federal court in Minnesota just hours after Pretti’s death. The testimonies came as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Minneapolis protesters against Kristi Noem and other Homeland Security officials directing the ongoing immigration crackdown in the city.
One of the key witnesses is a woman who captured the clearest video of the fatal incident. She’s a children’s entertainer who specializes in face painting, which is a jarring detail considering the harrowing scene she described. She explained that she came to the scene on her way to work because she felt it was crucial to “document what ICE is doing to my neighbors.”
She testified she was standing just behind Pretti when the federal officers began their assault
Pretti was simply trying to come to the aid of another observer the agents had violently shoved to the ground. That’s when a federal agent sprayed a chemical agent into the faces of both Pretti and the woman he was trying to help. The entertainer testified she saw no sign of Pretti holding a gun at any point during the confrontation. She was only about five feet away from the victim.
“The agents pulled the man on the ground,” she said. “I didn’t see him touch any of them, he wasn’t even turned toward them. It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn’t see him with a gun.” She described the agents throwing him to the ground and then opening fire. “Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times … I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him…”
President Trump, the Homeland Security secretary, and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino all called Pretti a “gunman” who approached officers “brandishing” a weapon and threatening a “massacre.” The witness, however, directly addressed those claims. She stated, “I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.”
The second witness, a 29-year-old physician who lives near the scene, corroborated the fact that Pretti was unarmed. The doctor watched the incident from an apartment window and saw Pretti yelling at agents but “did not see him attack the agents or brandish a weapon of any kind.”
Perhaps the most damning evidence comes from the aftermath of the shooting. When the physician attempted to render medical aid, the federal agents initially blocked them. The doctor said they had to insist on assessing the victim because “none of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR.”
When the physician finally convinced the agents to let them through, they were shocked by the agents’ behavior. Instead of checking for a pulse or performing CPR, the officers “appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.”
Published: Jan 26, 2026 10:30 am