# Alex Pretti Killing On January 24, 2026, Alex Jeffrey Pretti — a 37-year-old US citizen and ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital — was shot and killed by federal agents during protests against [[Operation Metro Surge]], the ICE-led enforcement operation running in the Twin Cities since December 2025. Pretti was filming agents and directing traffic; witnesses and bystander video show he stepped between an agent and a woman who had been pushed to the ground, was pepper-sprayed and wrestled down by roughly six agents, and then shot multiple times. Two [[CBP]] personnel fired — identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesús Ochoa and CBP officer Raymundo Gutiérrez, both placed on administrative leave. His killing came seventeen days after the [[Renée Good Killing]], the operation's first killing of a US citizen. ## The narrative collapse DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed an agent fired in self-defense after a man "approached agents with a handgun" and "violently resisted." Border Patrol commander [[Gregory Bovino]] went further, claiming Pretti "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement" and telling CNN that "the victims are the Border Patrol agents." Bystander video contradicted the account, showing Pretti holding a phone; CNN reported on February 2 that the administration's "rushed narrative… has collapsed," and an internal CBP report reportedly challenged the DHS version. Body-camera footage — from as many as 30 officers — has not been publicly released as of July 2026, and no criminal charges against either officer have been confirmed. > [!warning] Disputed > The official DHS self-defense account and the witness/video record directly conflict. No charging decision had been publicly confirmed as of July 2026. ## Investigations and obstruction DOJ opened a civil rights investigation (~January 30, 2026), while Minnesota's push for an independent state investigation was blocked — 50+ organizations condemned the obstruction. In a parallel move, DOJ subpoenaed [[Tim Walz]], Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other Minnesota officials over alleged interference with immigration enforcement; a federal judge quashed the subpoenas as intended to "harass" the administration's opponents. [[JD Vance]] separately referred state AG [[Keith Ellison]] to DOJ for a fraud probe. ## The Palantir revolt Pretti's killing triggered the most visible tech-worker dissent of the enforcement era: [[Palantir]] employees flooded internal Slack with objections to the company's ICE/DHS work ("I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this"). On February 10, staff received a roughly hour-long prerecorded video from [[Alex Karp]], who spent most of it on Palantir's role in "building and maintaining Western power," declined to address ICE specifics, and offered NDAs for employees wanting product details. The episode is the human-cost hinge connecting [[ImmigrationOS]] to the [[Carceral and Border Security Sector]]. ## See Also - [[Operation Metro Surge]] · [[Renée Good Killing]] · [[CBP]] · [[ICE]] · [[Gregory Bovino]] - [[Palantir]] · [[Alex Karp]] · [[ImmigrationOS]] - [[Carceral and Border Security Sector]] · [[US Immigration Timeline]]