It took only seconds in South Minneapolis for a scuffle to turn into a fatal shooting. Now the fight is over the story.
Federal officials say a Border Patrol agent fired in self-defense. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says that version is “nonsense” after watching the video. And the man who died, identified as 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti, appears in footage holding a cellphone, not a gun, according to reporting.
A death in the middle of an enforcement surge
The shooting happened Saturday morning in Minneapolis, as immigration enforcement activity continued across the city and as protests were already underway, according to CBS News live updates on the incident.
CBS reported it was less than three weeks after another fatal shooting involving an ICE agent. That earlier case, involving a person CBS identified as Renee Good, helped set the temperature for the city’s latest round of demonstrations.
🚨Images from yesterday show federal Border Patrol and ICE agents involved in the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the protests and unrest that followed the shooting of the ICU nurse by immigration enforcement agents. pic.twitter.com/8gM0eefRys
— PLT Report (@pltreport) January 25, 2026
Who was Alex Jeffrey Pretti?
CBS identified the man killed as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA hospital. The identification matters because it immediately pulls this story out of the abstract. This was not a nameless “suspect” line in a press release. It was a working health care professional with a specific job and employer, named in a major national outlet’s coverage.
That detail is also fueling a broader question that often follows police and federal use-of-force cases: what, exactly, was the threat?
DHS says self-defense. Walz calls that “nonsense.”
According to CBS, the Department of Homeland Security said the agent acted in self-defense after attempting to disarm Pretti.
Walz, however, flatly rejected that description after reviewing video, calling DHS’s account “nonsense,” CBS reported.
The clash is not just rhetorical. It sets up competing versions of a crucial moment, and it raises the stakes for investigators who will have to reconcile official statements with footage that is already circulating.
The video detail that changes everything: cellphone, not gun
Video from the scene, as described by CBS, shows Pretti holding a cellphone when he was shot. CBS also reported that an agent can be seen emerging from the scuffle with a gun and turning away from Pretti when the first shot is fired.
If that description holds up under formal review, it sharpens the central contradiction: a claimed attempt to “disarm” someone versus visuals that suggest the object in hand was not a firearm.
At the same time, a key point remains unresolved in public reporting. Video can answer what was in someone’s hands. It does not always capture what a person believed in the moment, what was said, or what happened immediately before the frame begins. That gap is where use-of-force investigations often live or die.
Why this is blowing past Minneapolis
Three forces are colliding here.
First, the shooter was not a local police officer. CBS reports the fatal shot came from a Border Patrol agent, putting DHS and federal enforcement strategy at the center of a city-level crisis.
Second, the timing is politically combustible. The death comes amid what CBS described as “an ongoing surge in immigration enforcement action across the city,” with protests continuing.
Third, the dispute is not coming from an activist group or a defense attorney. It is coming from the governor of Minnesota, in plain language, and tied directly to video review.
When a governor publicly calls a federal agency’s initial framing “nonsense,” it signals more than disagreement. It signals a coming battle over credibility, transparency, and who gets to define the narrative first.
What to watch next
In the near term, attention will likely focus on three developments.
More video, more angles. The first clips rarely end the argument. They usually start it. Any additional footage, especially unedited or multi-angle video, could clarify whether the cellphone was consistently visible and what led to the physical confrontation.
Investigative control and public updates. With a federal agent involved, the path of any investigation, including who leads it and what gets released, becomes a story on its own. The public will look for timelines, witness accounts, and any official explanation that addresses the specific moments seen in the video.
Protests and enforcement posture. CBS reports protests are continuing while immigration enforcement action surges. That combination can escalate quickly, especially if more information contradicts early official statements or if officials decline to provide details.
The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a US Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis triggered nationwide protests across the United States on Saturday, with demonstrations erupting in cities including Minneapolis, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and Tucson.… pic.twitter.com/L6qfpYl18s
— India Today Global (@ITGGlobal) January 25, 2026
The version war is already underway
This case is not only about a shooting. It is also about who the public believes when the first official explanation collides with video and a governor’s blunt rebuttal.
DHS says self-defense during an attempt to disarm. Walz says that is “nonsense.” CBS says Pretti appeared to be holding a cellphone.
Until investigators provide a fuller account that matches the visuals the public is already watching, the argument over what happened in South Minneapolis will keep expanding, one frame at a time.
