Trump admin ‘reviewing everything’ about Alex Pretti shooting in Minneapolis
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Trump confirmed that his administration is “reviewing everything” following the shooting in Minneapolis that left 37-year-old nurse Alex J. Pretti dead.
To talk Wall StreetJournalBut Trump declined to confirm whether the federal agent who carried out the deadly attack on January 24 acted appropriately.
As questions grew about the incident and the broader immigration operation in the city, Trump said, “We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything, and we’re going to come out determined.”
Pretti, a critical care nurse, was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent while filming federal officers on a Minneapolis street.
GOP SEN. CASSIDY DIFFERENT WITH TRUMP OVER FATAL SHOOTING BY BORDER DISTRIBUTION AGENT IN MINNEAPOLIS
An overhead view of large protesters gathered at the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and W. 27th St. in south Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in the area early Saturday morning, Jan. 24, 2026. (Aaron Lavinsky/Minnesota Star Tribune)
The officer’s operation was targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma, an illegal immigrant with a criminal history that includes domestic assault due to intentional conflict, causing bodily harm, disorderly conduct and driving without a valid driver’s license.
Federal authorities initially alleged that Pretti approached agents with a 9mm handgun and resisted disarming.
Eyewitness and eyewitness accounts circulating online have raised questions about this version of events and whether Pretti was threatening the officers when he was shot.
TIM WALZ COMPARES MINNESOTA ICE MOVEMENTS TO GENOCIDE AND ANNE FRANK: ‘THEY’RE HIDING IN THEIR HOMES’
President Donald Trump gestures while walking on the South Lawn of the White House after returning from a trip to Florida on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Washington. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)
“I don’t like shooting at all. I don’t like it,” Trump said, adding that Pretti “carries a very powerful gun, with two magazines, fully loaded… That doesn’t do much good either.”
Trump also linked the federal presence in Minnesota to what he described as the state’s increasingly widespread welfare fraud scandal and argued that immigration enforcement was necessary to address broader abuses.
“This is the biggest fraud anyone has ever seen,” the president said.
Allegations of fraud in the state have been a central part of the administration’s need to ramp up federal operations there.
VANCE SAYS UNREST IN MINNEAPOLIS AFTER FATAL SHOOTING WERE ‘BOARDED CHAOS’
This undated photo provided by Michael Pretti shows Alex J. Pretti, who was shot by a federal officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Michael Pretti via AP)
Pretti’s shooting in Minneapolis also marked the second death in a conflict between federal immigration officers and civilians in the city.
Renee Good was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a separate operation on January 7.
This incident sparked protests and drew attention to ICE’s role in local law enforcement.
“At some point we will leave. We did it, they did a phenomenal job,” Trump said, without offering a time frame for when the agents might leave.
“We’re going to leave a different group of people out there because of financial fraud,” he told the press.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also emphasized that cooperation between law enforcement agencies is essential.
“Nobody, including President Trump, wants to see people shot or injured,” Leavitt said, urging officials to work more closely with the administration to address undocumented people living in the country illegally.
