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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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A GoFundMe campaign for the family of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a U.S. citizen who was fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, has raised more than $1,000,000 in donations.
The fundraiser was launched shortly after Pretti’s death to help cover funeral, family and legal expenses, and other immediate financial needs. It had raised $1,068,305 from more than 27,000 contributions as of the time of publication.
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The Context
Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital, was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent on January 24.
The shooting comes weeks after the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, who was shot dead by an ICE agent during a federal enforcement operation in Minneapolis on January 7.
Her death, which the Hennepin County Medical Examiner later ruled a homicide, triggered widespread outrage, vigils, and protests across the United States as critics challenged official accounts of the incident and raised concerns about the conduct of federal agents.
Pretti's death has sparked further protests and intensified scrutiny of agents' conduct and accountability.
What To Know
An update posted Tuesday by GoFundMe organizer Keith Edwards said that Pretti’s father has been formally added as the beneficiary of the GoFundMe campaign.
Once a beneficiary accepts the invitation, GoFundMe creates a separate account specifically for them that is linked to the fundraiser. Through this account, the beneficiary can sign in, enter their own bank information, and set up fund transfers.
After the setup is complete, donations are automatically sent directly to the beneficiary’s bank account. At that point, the organizer no longer has access to transfer settings or bank details, since all financial information is managed solely through the beneficiary’s account.
Federal authorities and video evidence have offered differing accounts of the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.
In a statement released hours after his death, the Department of Homeland Security said Pretti approached U.S. Border Patrol officers armed with a 9-millimeter handgun, resisted attempts to disarm him, and was shot after what the agency described as a violent struggle.
However, multiple videos recorded by bystanders and later reviewed by news organizations present a different sequence of events. The footage shows Pretti directing traffic and not engaging with federal officers until a nearby woman was knocked to the ground by an agent.
When Pretti attempted to help her, officers sprayed him with a chemical irritant and forced him to the ground. The videos show Pretti holding a cellphone as officers approached him. During the struggle, one officer is seen removing a handgun from Pretti’s waistband and moving away with it, with a shot fired roughly a second later, after Pretti appears to have been disarmed.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a press conference Saturday that Pretti was a lawful gun owner and permitted carrier.
What People Are Saying
**The parents of Alex Pretti said in a joint statement: "**The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed."
"This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement," Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, told Newsweek on Saturday.
Dr. Aasma Shaukat, a physician and clinical researcher who first hired Pretti as a research assistant in 2014, told Newseek Sunday: “He wasn’t looking for trouble. He wasn’t instigating anything. It’s disturbing how he’s being portrayed."
What Happens Next
Authorities have said the shooting remains under investigation.
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