Showing posts with label Border Patrol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Border Patrol. Show all posts

Saturday, January 24, 2026

The Minneapolis Shooting Demands a Real Investigation (w/ Andrew Weissmann); The Bulwark, January 24, 2026

 SARAH LONGWELL AND ANDREW WEISSMANN, The Bulwark; The Minneapolis Shooting Demands a Real Investigation (w/ Andrew Weissmann)

"Sarah Longwell is joined by Andrew Weissmann for his reaction to the second killing of a civilian in Minnesota by federal agents. Andrew is professor of practice at the NYU School of Law who served as lead prosecutor in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office from 2017 to 2019, and was General Counsel for the FBI from 2011 to 2013. They discuss the roles of the First and Second Amendments in the case, the contradictions and falsehoods issued by the government, and why it is important for people to continue speaking out and come forward with any video evidence in cases like this."

VA Doctor Remembers Alex Pretti, 37-Year-Old Man Killed by ICE, as ‘Kind and Helpful’ ICU Nurse (Exclusive); People, January 24, 2026

 Toria Sheffield and Wendy Grossman Kantor, People; VA Doctor Remembers Alex Pretti, 37-Year-Old Man Killed by ICE, as ‘Kind and Helpful’ ICU Nurse (Exclusive)

 "Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis, is being remembered by one of his colleagues as a 'kind guy' and a “very, very skilled nurse.”

“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 was employed, told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.

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

Drekonja, 51, went on to say that the “biggest thing” he wants others to know about Pretti 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 continued of Pretti's death, adding that he and other colleagues at the hospital “want people to know that [Pretti] was a good person. He was such a nice guy.”

Drekonja additionally said that he and Pretti shared an interest in mountain biking, and that they would often discuss their favorite local routes.

Pretti had been a registered nurse since January 2021, according to his nursing license, obtained by PEOPLE. 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."

Alex Jeffrey Pretti Knew He Wanted to Help Others; The New York Times, January 24, 2026

Corina KnollJulie Bosman and , The New York Times ; Alex Jeffrey Pretti Knew He Wanted to Help Others

"The man fatally shot by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis was Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, officials said.

Mr. Pretti, who was 37, was a registered nurse who worked in the intensive-care unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, according to interviews and public records, and lived in an apartment in Minneapolis a short drive away from where he was killed.

He had a firearms permit, required by state law in Minnesota to carry a handgun, officials said.

Colleagues and acquaintances of Mr. Pretti were stunned by his death, recalling a friendly neighbor and hardworking professional who was devoted to his patients.

Dr. Dimitri Drekonja said that the two had worked together for years. Mr. Pretti was capable, competent and friendly, he said, the kind of person who cared deeply about his work and his patients.

“He was a really great colleague and a really great friend,” he said. “The default look on his face was a smile.”

The two chatted regularly about mountain biking, one of Mr. Pretti’s passions.

Family members of Mr. Pretti declined to comment on Saturday. Michael Pretti, Mr. Pretti’s father, told The Associated Press that he had warned his son to be careful in Minneapolis.

“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”

Mr. Pretti received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 2011, a spokeswoman said. He graduated from a high school in Green Bay, Wis., in 2006, and was listed on the honor roll in a local newspaper. His parents now live in Colorado, and his former spouse lives in California."