{"id":113462,"date":"2026-01-27T01:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113462\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:00:16","slug":"dhs-investigating-whether-alex-prettis-gun-accidentally-fired-and-sparked-deadly-minneapolis-shooting-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113462\/","title":{"rendered":"DHS investigating whether Alex Pretti’s gun accidentally fired — and sparked deadly Minneapolis shooting: sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS \u2014\u00a0The Department of Homeland Security is investigating whether an errant shot from Alex Pretti\u2019s handgun<\/a> \u2014 after it was taken off of him \u2014 caused Border Patrol agents to think they were being fired on, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

As a result of the accidental discharge, which happened while the gun was in a Border agent\u2019s hand, other officers may have believed their lives were in danger \u2014 resulting in the split-second decision to open fire on Pretti<\/a>, killing him, multiple sources familiar with the investigation said.<\/p>\n

The explanation is a shift from initial claims by DHS officials, who at first said Pretti was brandishing the Sig Sauer P320 pistol, which he was legally allowed to carry.<\/p>\n

A federal agent holding Alex Pretti\u2019s gun after disarming him before the fatal shooting in Minneapolis. X\/robdoar<\/p>\n

The DHS is investigating whether Pretti\u2019s gun accidentally fired after it was taken from him. X\/robdoar<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 100% an accidental discharge by the agent that relieved that person of their weapon. Because everyone\u2019s guns were out, they think that there\u2019s a shooting,\u201d one source said.<\/p>\n

Additional sources confirmed that this is the explanation for the shooting that DHS is investigating.<\/p>\n

The Sig Sauer P320 has faced reports of \u201cuncommanded discharges\u201d due to external factors affecting the trigger, something the company has denied.<\/p>\n

The handgun, which is used extensively by US civilians and law enforcement \u2014 including ICE, has no external safety lever.<\/p>\n

Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis were wrestling Pretti to the ground in Minneapolis Saturday after he turned out for an impromptu anti-ICE protest.<\/p>\n

Alex Pretti speaking with a federal officer on Saturday before the shooting. AP<\/p>\n

The officers surrounded Pretti has he was on the ground.<\/p>\n

The gun officers took off Pretti on Saturday. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Pretti put himself between the federal agents and a woman who was being pepper-sprayed, video from the scene shows. An analysis of the bystander footage indicates that one shot appeared to come from Pretti\u2019s gun after a Border Agent grabbed it from his waistband and was walking away with it.<\/p>\n

That shot resulted in other agents \u2014 at least one of whom had drawn his weapon at that point \u2014 to open fire about 10 times.<\/p>\n

President Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel have both questioned why Pretti came to the protest on Saturday with a loaded handgun.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the shooting of a 37-year-old anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It\u2019s that simple. You don\u2019t have a right to break the law,\u201d Director Patel told Fox News\u2019 Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.<\/p>\n

But his remarks have drawn fury from many gun owners\u2019 groups, with Patel being branded \u201ccompletely incorrect\u201d by the Gun Owners Caucus of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no prohibition on a permit holder carrying a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines at a protest or rally in Minnesota,\u201d the group said in\u00a0a statement on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pretti was an ICU nurse at a Minneapolis VA hospital. Facebook \/ Fight for a Union<\/p>\n

Sources familiar with the investigation said the agents involved were overworked and not trained to deal with protesters \u2014 or the types of confrontations that are regularly happening with ICE Watch protesters in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of those agents should\u2019ve had their gun out. It\u2019s a confluence of them being asked to do enforcement work that they are not trained for,\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this is avoidable. None of this should be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source also warned of the threat to morale of the DHS officers, who are now having to act both as immigration officials and local police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are very mixed feelings internally about what\u2019s going on, and they do not want to, nor are they prepared to do both protest, enforcement, and management, plus street-level enforcement like this,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Pretti was one of around 50 anti-ICE protesters who came out onto the streets on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWord got around that a bunch of ICE agents had shown up and were making rounds, so folks mobilized. It wasn\u2019t that many people \u2014 maybe 50 altogether, which sounds like a lot, but it isn\u2019t,\u201d Minneapolis resident Blair told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt about 8:30 I heard a bunch of gunshots, and we knew something bad had happened. The next thing we knew, ambulances showed up. We helped set up a triage for EMS, because at the time we didn\u2019t know how many people had been shot. Then word got around that somebody had been killed, and everything blew up after that,\u201d Blair added.<\/p>\n

It comes as President Trump sent Border Czar Tom Homan to Minnesota amid ongoing violent clashes between ICE officers and protesters.<\/p>\n

Pretti was a licensed gun owner with a permit to carry a concealed firearm. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

So far, the administration is sticking by Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who is increasingly under fire from Dems over his handling of operations in Minneapolis and claims about Pretti after the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoman is simply going there to assess what is going on. It does not indicate one way or another lack of confidence in [DHS Secretary Kristi Noem] or Bovino. They love Bovino,\u201d the source added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday, it was revealed that Bovino and some of his Border Patrol agents would be leaving Minneapolis<\/a>, Fox News reported.<\/p>\n

Tensions remain high in the city following the death of Pretti, an ICU nurse who treated sick veterans at a hospital in Minneapolis.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pretti, a registered Democrat, had a history of protesting, previously taking to the streets following the killing of George Floyd, close to where Pretti lived with his wife of the time in 2020.<\/p>\n

His ex-wife, who hadn\u2019t spoken to Pretti for two years since they divorced, said he had gotten a permit to carry a concealed firearm a few months before the couple split.<\/p>\n

He owned at least one semiautomatic handgun when they separated, the ex-wife, who asked to remain unidentified, told AP.<\/p>\n

She described Pretti as someone who might shout at law enforcement officers at a protest, ut added that she had never known him to be physically confrontational.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014\u00a0The Department of Homeland Security is investigating whether an errant shot from Alex Pretti\u2019s handgun \u2014 after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[50229,2300,68,4801,43894,9,11,10,3980,58],"class_list":["post-113462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alex-pretti","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-exclusive","tag-minneapolis","tag-minneapolis-ice-shooting-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-shootings","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}