{"id":262416,"date":"2026-01-24T23:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T23:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262416\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T23:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T23:51:10","slug":"protests-grow-after-man-shot-and-killed-during-minneapolis-immigration-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262416\/","title":{"rendered":"Protests grow after man shot and killed during Minneapolis immigration crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal immigration officers shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Saturday, drawing hundreds of protesters to the streets in a city already shaken by another fatal shooting weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

The details surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear, but Minnesota governor Tim Walz said the man was shot amid the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n

He was identified by his parents as Alex Pretti, 37, an intensive care unit nurse.<\/p>\n

\"AlexAlex J Pretti was named as the man shot by a federal officer in Minneapolis on Saturday (Michael Pretti via AP)<\/p>\n

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O\u2019Hara urged people to remain peaceful and not to destroy the city.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Hara said there was limited information about the shooting. He called on people to leave the area and said it is \u201cnot sustainable\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur demand today is for those federal agencies that are operating in our city to do so with the same discipline, humanity and integrity that effective law enforcement in this country demands,\u201d the chief said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge everyone to remain peaceful. We recognise that there is a lot of anger and a lot of questions around what has happened, but we need people to remain peaceful in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FederalFederal immigration officers deploy pepper spray at observers in Minneapolis (Abbie Parr\/AP)<\/p>\n

The Minnesota National Guard was assisting local police amid growing protests.<\/p>\n

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told the Associated Press that the person had a firearm with two magazines and that the situation was \u201cevolving\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said officers fired \u201cdefensive shots\u201d after a man with a handgun approached them and \u201cviolently resisted\u201d when officers tried to disarm him.<\/p>\n

\"ImmigrationProtests were growing throughout the day (Abbie Parr\/AP)<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Hara said the man\u2019s only previous interaction with law enforcement as far as he knew was for traffic tickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we believe he is a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The officer who shot Mr Pretti is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

Family members said Mr Pretti was an intensive care nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital who had participated in protests following the killing of Renee Good in the city on January 7th.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,\u201d said his father Michael Pretti.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Pretti was a US citizen who like Ms Good, court records showed he had no criminal record.<\/p>\n

It is a campaign of organised brutality against the people of our state. And today, that campaign claimed yet another life<\/p>\n

Tim Walz<\/p>\n

In a statement issued later on Saturday Mr Walz called immigration enforcement \u201corganised brutality\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal occupation of Minnesota long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. It is a campaign of organised brutality against the people of our state. And today, that campaign claimed yet another life,\u201d Mr Walz said.<\/p>\n

He said the state, and not the federal government, will lead the investigation into the death of Mr Pretti.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinnesotans and our local law enforcement have done everything we can to de-escalate. The federal government must de-escalate. I once again call on the president to remove the 3,000 agents from Minnesota who are sowing chaos and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shooting happened amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities since the shooting of Ms Good, 37, who was killed when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officer fired into her vehicle.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s shooting unfolded just over a mile away from where Ms Good was shot.<\/p>\n

I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. <\/p>\n

The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Several bystander videos of the shooting emerged soon after. Mr Pretti is seen with a phone in his hand but none appears to show him with a visible weapon.<\/p>\n

One bystander video obtained by The Associated Press is understood to show at least seven officers surrounding the man, before shots are heard and the officers back away.<\/p>\n

Mr Walz, a Democrat, said in a social media post that he had been in contact with the White House after the shooting. He urged President Donald Trump to end what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now,\u201d Mr Walz said in his post on X.<\/p>\n

The DHS distributed a photo of a handgun they said was on the person who was shot.<\/p>\n

After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them \u201ccowards\u201d and telling them to go home.<\/p>\n

One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: \u201cBoo hoo.\u201d Agents elsewhere shoved a yelling protester into a car.<\/p>\n

Protesters dragged rubbish bins from alleyways to block the streets, and people who gathered chanted, \u201cIce out now\u201d, referring to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re killing my neighbours!\u201d Minneapolis resident Josh Koskie said.<\/p>\n

Federal officers wielded batons and deployed flash bangs on the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"TimGov Tim Walz speaks during a news conference after the shooting (Jeff Wheeler\/Star Tribune via AP)<\/p>\n

The intersection where the shooting took place was blocked off, and Border Patrol agents were on the scene wielding batons.<\/p>\n

The shooting happened a day after thousands of demonstrators protesting against the crackdown on immigrants crowded the city\u2019s streets in frigid weather, calling for federal law enforcement to leave.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump posted a long statement about the shooting on his Truth Social account, in part accusing the city\u2019s mayor and the governor of \u201cinciting insurrection\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States of America.<\/p>\n

\u201cLET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB! 12,000 Illegal Alien Criminals, many of them violent, have been arrested and taken out of Minnesota. If they were still there, you would see something far worse than you are witnessing today!\u201d<\/p>\n

When I visited Minnesota, what the ICE agents wanted more than anything was to work with local law enforcement so that situations on the ground didn’t get out of hand. <\/p>\n

The local leadership in Minnesota has so far refused to answer those requests. pic.twitter.com\/XUGIhXxUv7<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 JD Vance (@JDVance) January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance responded to the shooting in a post on X and said that when he visited Minneapolis this week, \u201cwhat the ICE agents wanted more than anything was to work with local law enforcement so that situations on the ground didn\u2019t get out of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

He accused local officials in Minnesota of ignoring requests from ICE agents to work with them. Federal officials refused to co-operate with local officials on an investigation into the shooting death of Renee Good.<\/p>\n

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was born and raised in Minnesota, posted on X to thank God for the \u201cpatriots\u201d who work for Ice and said \u201cwe have your back 100%\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon chief added: \u201cShame on the leadership of Minnesota \u2014 and the lunatics in the street. ICE MN.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congressman Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the US House Homeland Security Committee, called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached and denounced statements from the administration about the man DHS agents killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently, the Trump administration and its secret police only support the First and Second Amendments when it\u2019s convenient to them,\u201d Mr Thompson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Mr Thompson called on Demorats in the Senate to vote against a funding bill for DHS that passed the lower chamber last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is un-American and has to stop,\u201d Mr Thompson said. \u201cThe House must immediately take steps to impeach Kristi Noem.\u201d<\/p>\n