Alex Pretti, the man Border Patrol shot dead on January 24, was caught on camera just eleven days earlier violently assaulting federal immigration officers in broad daylight.
Video from Minneapolis’ Powderhorn neighborhood shows Pretti spitting in an agent’s face, delivering a savage kick to a patrol car’s taillight, then flipping off the officers with both middle fingers raised.
Without hesitation, one immigration agent leaps from his vehicle and pins Pretti to the pavement. Pretti wriggles free, ducking behind a shield of left-wing protesters as officers hold their fire.
A holstered handgun protrudes from Pretti’s waistband throughout the encounter—proof he was armed and dangerous.
This January 13 scuffle unfolded less than half a mile from the spot where agents killed Renee Good just six days earlier. Good had rammed her car into officers who demanded she step out; when she accelerated into a federal agent, he defended himself with a single shot.
Pretti emerged from that clash with a broken rib, yet local media and some politicians downplayed both incidents and cheered on anti-enforcement mobs.
Eleven days later, Pretti paid the price for provoking federal officers. Two Border Patrol agents involved in the fatal January 24 altercation are now on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The Department of Homeland Security claims no record of the January 13 fight—an astonishing lapse that underscores the chaos Minneapolis officials have sown by encouraging resistance to federal law enforcement.
In response to escalating violence and blatant defiance of immigration laws, the Trump administration has removed Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and dispatched White House border czar Tom Homan to restore order.
Homan has already met with Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey to demand full cooperation with federal agents. President Trump called Pretti’s death “a very unfortunate incident,” but made clear that officers will not be intimidated by anarchist agitators.
Minneapolis must choose: stand with federal law enforcement or bow to mob rule. The Trump administration is sending a clear message—crossing federal officers carries deadly consequences.
